How and Why to Take Care of Yourself

You must love where you are and where you are going in your place of happiness.

It all comes full circle when you make it a priority to take care of yourself, if society wants you to believe that you should take care of others. But you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself first. While I know it’s easier said than done, you will definitely reap the benefits almost immediately when you attend to yourself before you attend to others. What does it mean to attend to yourself first? As such, it means eating well, getting regular check ups, exercising, dressing properly, engaging in hobbies that keep you mentally stimulated, and spending time with friends and family.

Every day should be spent attending to your needs. Your body, mind, and spirit ask things of you every day and demand your care so that they don’t start to feel deficient and you don’t start to show symptoms. You need to pay attention to yourself to happily give others the attention, love, and friendship they need.

Eat Well and Love Yourself

The foods you put into your body are an indication of how much you love yourself. Having french fries occasionally is not a crime against you and your body, but drinking a Coke every day is. Depriving yourself of the right amount of water needed to hydrate your body is another crime. True love for yourself means putting only the best in your temple to help it function at its best level.

One of the many benefits of good eating is it helps with how well your body will serve you, including in the appearance department. We all love to see our best, and what we put into our bodies affects how we see and feel. Some foods, for example, help to clear the skin and make hair shine.

Aging should not be painful. Aging gracefully can and should be supported by your diet. One of the keys to a child’s appearance is that you think (that is, if you think you are young) eating right. Eating in a way that shows that you love yourself will be seen internally and externally as you become an adult. You want to be proud of every milestone you have reached at your age. Below I have compiled a list of foods that are known to be anti-aging:

* yogurt

* chocolate

* Spinach

* fish

* nuts

* Avocados

* blueberries

* kale

* pomegranates

Food has an energizing power. Eating well and clean will give you a clear mind. Eating nutritious foods and treating your body can result in increased sensitivity, which means you’re emotionally coming out right now, with unconscious awareness.

You are able to show up in life and practice more tolerance for yourself in the emergence of your emotions. Feelings of laziness, emptiness, or hopelessness can be controlled through a better diet. With a clear mind, you can be present and notice what is around you. You are able to make better decisions and stick to them.

Whatever you feel, you need to be the one to feed your body and let it know that you love it. Feeding yourself is an important way of spiritually connecting with yourself.

Getting a Checkup

I know, they can be a pain, but annual doctor visits are necessary. You need to know your current state of health. If you have a medical condition, do you take care of it? You need to incorporate your health needs into anything. You can spend a life trying to fulfill a desire, but if your health is not in order, whatever you achieve makes no sense to you, because you will not be able to enjoy it.

Choosing to sacrifice your health for someone, event, or achievement is slowly hurting your body and your self-esteem. You need to make sure that you are not deficient in any vitamins and that all parts of your body are functioning as best they can.

Spiritual Analysis

The spirit must also be examined - daily. While no one is talking about getting a spiritual evaluation, you have to disobey your spiritual needs. A spiritual examination is not something that happens once every few months but several times daily. Diagnosis occurs when you wake up in the morning, before you go to bed, and throughout the day when decisions need to be made and challenges arise.

Spiritual tests are an important part of taking care of yourself. When you take care of yourself, you show the love and compassion you have for yourself and for others. When you are deprived of the spiritual, you cannot drive your own beliefs, let alone others. Your conversations are always full of doubts and questions, and you are resisting God’s truth by not operating in faith and instead focusing only on what is happening in front of us. Your relationship with God must be intact before you can have a healthy relationship with anyone else. Putting it together means getting your spirit in order.

Exercise Your Self-Esteem

It's time to take care of your health. A healthy individual is glowing, confident, and energetic; makes better decisions; and runs wisdom. And exercising body, mind, and spirit is a good place to start. Let's look at some ways to do this.

Physical activity can improve your self -esteem and, of course, is an important part of loving yourself. By exercising, you are not only saying that your mind, body, and spirit are important, but you are also saying that wherever you see room for improvement, you are here. You tell yourself you’re not going to give up and you’re not putting your physical need at the bottom of your to -do list.

Through exercise, you can release stress, treat depression, and help your body produce the strength and stamina it needs to make it through your day. You can also use exercise as a way to reach physical goals and to improve your appearance. When you meet a physical goal, your confidence increases and you wonder about yourself and your ability to achieve whatever you want. You feel better about yourself!

Exercise is not only physical but mental as well. Frequent mental exercise, even daily, will help you deal with future tasks and challenges. Here are some mindfulness exercises to get you started:

LEARN THE NEW LANGUAGE. Not only does it help boost your brain power, but it also helps your ability to multitask, improves memory, expands your perspective on the world and other people, sharpens your reading skills, and helps you express yourself, solve the problem, and negotiate.

Challenge your playmate. Trying new foods, as well as trying to identify the ingredients in your food, is fun and helps to improve recognition and memory. You can also do this by testing your knowledge of wines as you taste the wine.

MAKE MATH PRODUCTS IN YOUR HEAD. Get away from your phone or calculator and figure out that math problem with good old pencil, paper, and brains.

Tell a story. Telling stories challenges your brain to focus on details and to tie emotion to those details. Plus, great entertainment!

Along with physical and mental workouts, we also need spiritual ones to keep our faith in top shape. Like any muscle, if you don’t use it, it will become weak and not equipped for the job at hand. Here are some great spiritual exercises:

PRACTICE BEING A GIVER. You can do this through tithing and dedicating your time to helping other people.

Identify your blessings. Acknowledge your blessings, and give thanks for them.

SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY. Tell your story to those who are willing to listen. You can help them on their journey as you share your testimony about how great God has been to you and loves you.

FAST. Detox the body and the mind, and focus on what is private between you and God.

EXPRESSED TIME IN THE BODY. Doing so allows you to feel spiritually connected to all living things and to understand what it means to be one with God. Stay in the beauty of your present and of all the gifts of the planet.

Self-Reflection: Dressing Well

The world will tell how you feel about yourself in the way you dress. You can challenge this until you no longer have the strength to say another word, but the truth will always remain how you dress is a direct reflection of how you feel about yourself.

When you dress with confidence and confidence, it is an outward way of showing that you respect yourself. The daily attention you give to yourself shows that you are always showing your best self, even when you don’t feel it. When you look good, you feel good, and your actions depend on how you feel.

Self-neglect can lead to feeling bad, not looking good, and indifference, and this includes if you pay attention to your sense of style and self. When you stop neglecting yourself on the outside, you are more likely to stop neglecting yourself on the inside as well.

Mentally Stimulating Hobbies

It really is great when you take the time to improve yourself. Establishing interests in certain areas of life, such as art, your community, your church, sports, and other extracurricular activities allows you to grow in terms of communication skills, emotional development, and cultivating new ways of thinking.

If you have a list of activities that intrigue you, why not take the time to try one now?

There are many benefits to taking up a hobby and participating in new activities. I will just list a few of them. Getting a new hobby:

* Increases self -esteem

* Your interests are varied

* Develops relationship skills

* The ability to contribute works

Mixing what you like with what you want to know is one of the best ways to diversify your interests. This diversity will allow you to meet new people, to have different conversations and perspectives. It allows you to appreciate your world on a larger scale. Here are some activities and hobbies that can help you do that:

* writing

* horsemanship

* Singing lessons

* Knitting

* Gardening

* swimming

* calligraphy

* Learning a new language

* Sculpting

* Interior design / renovation

* Playing the violin

* any church activity that hinders your interest

* Take part in local theater productions

* Take a class to learn a skill like Photoshop

It is in the openness of your heart as you try new hobbies that you also discover what you are truly passionate about. You give yourself the opportunity to mingle with people who share your interests and passions. If so, you may be expressing a part of yourself that may take a backseat due to stress or routine or people in your life holding you back. Making time for your activities allows you to put you first and to discover an aspect of yourself that you may have asked for or taken for granted. You are not too old or too young to live today.