What is your biggest challenge when it comes to practicing self-care? Personally, it has always been hard to implement self-care for my mind. It can be a lot easier caring for your body rather than caring for your mind and spirit. All too often we avoid objectively facing our mindset, outlook, feelings, fears, and emotions in life, and we continue on pushing our mental health aside. Why is this?
It can be very uncomfortable, and even feel intimidating, facing our mental state and is a lot easier to put off until a later time. Sometimes we simply don’t want to stop and deal with the thoughts that are running through our minds. I know that I don’t always love being alone with my thoughts and in the past, I would allow myself to get caught up in the busyness of life and daily responsibilities at all times to avoid facing them. This is not very difficult for us to do. Our days are filled with distractions, deadlines, responsibilities, and always being in a hurry. A lot of times we overcommit and say yes when we know we probably shouldn't.
Keeping all of our thoughts and emotions bottled up with no release can become a defense mechanism, but eventually they end up overflowing into our personal lives and relationships. In order to avoid this and maintain both a healthy mindset and body, we have put together five of our favorite self-care tips for your mindset and beauty that can easily be incorporated into your regular self-care routine.
Self-Care Tip 1: Find Ways to Learn & Challenge Yourself
Searching for ways to learn new things, expand your knowledge, and challenge yourself is extremely important for your self-growth. Not only does it expand your mind and sharpen your mind, but it's also a form of self-care for the mind. Whether it’s doing something creative, discovering a passion, or reading a book every day, there are so many ways to learn and challenge yourself. Doing this can allow you to feel more confident in your knowledge on a certain subject, or even find a new hobby.
Self-Care Tip 2: Digital Detox
How often do you turn off your phone? How many tabs do you currently have opened in your computer? It can be fairly easy to see that many of us have fallen into a routine of subconsciously reaching for our phone to constantly entertain us, and we have become very attached to our digital worlds. Even though digital technology has allowed us to increase our productivity and save us time, oftentimes we allow it to take over and to the opposite. While our phones do make our lives more convenient and allow us to accomplish a lot, they also provide us with a lot of distractions which makes it very easy for us to waste time. You can’t be truly or present in the moment if you're constantly reaching for your phone in order to check notifications. Try spending an entire day without your phone, computer, tablet or TV and see how you feel and what you notice going on around you. If it seems impossible to go without your phone for an entire day, try simply doing a one-hour digital detox. Just imagine some of the things you love doing, that don’t involve electronics, and plan a time to implement a digital detox into your week.
Self-Care Tip 3: Carefully Choose Your Cleanser
Dermatologists say that one of the best beauty tips around is to use the gentlest cleanser you can find - and use it sparingly. When you wash your face too often (more than twice a day), you can actually end up damaging the natural lipid barrier which is the protective mantle of lubrication that keeps your skin feeling and looking healthy. "Once that protection is lost, and the integrity of the skin barrier disrupted, skin becomes dry - which means it can crack, peel, itch, burn, sting, or any combination," says Crutchfield. It also means you can look older than your years. In order to help avoid pre-maturing aging, one simple solution is to wash your skin no more than twice a day while choosing your cleanser wisely.
Self-Care Tip 4: The Power of Moisturizer
Whether your skin is dry, normal, oily, or even combination skin, the one skin care product experts recommend is a good moisturizer. Sometimes, all you really need is a good moisturizer and a mild cleanser, and you can take years off your face. When your skin is dry, every wrinkle is accentuated and makes you look older. If you are in your 20s or 30s, doctors say that moisturizers will help contribute to some of the protection you need in order to keep your skin from prematurely aging.
So what exactly is a "good" moisturizer? Dermatologist Charles E. Crutchfield III, MD, describes it this way: "It's a product that will do anything from gently adding moisture, to sealing in the moisture you've achieved, to helping your skin produce more moisture -- and which type you choose should be based on your skin's individual needs." If your skin is normal to dry, you'll want to look for moisturizers containing alpha hydroxy acids. This can help your skin produce more moisture on its own, and if your skin is very dry, you may want to look into moisturizing products that use a technology called vesicular emulsion. This technology uses microscopic spheres that are alternating layers of moisture and water that slowly release throughout the day, so you get continual moisturization. If your skin is oily, you'll want to shop for a gentle moisturizer that is very light on the skin.
Self-Care Tip 5: Sunscreen - The Best Anti-aging Product.
Did you know that sunscreen is the number one anti-aging product? Before you spend more on beauty procedures and anti-aging creams trying to undo any skin damage that the sun has caused, start wearing sunscreen every day. Most of us know that sunscreen greatly reduces the risk of skin cancer, but did you know it's also an amazing beauty "secret" that can help keep your skin looking young and full of life?
When sunscreen blocks out the sun's damaging rays, it also blocks the harmful UV rays that cause aging effects in your skin. This is because the sun affects your collagen production in the skin, and without collagen, your skin won't maintain its plump, hydrated, youthful, wrinkle-free glow. If you get too much sun exposure, your skin will wrinkle long before its time. Without the protection of sunscreen, just a few minutes of daily sun exposure over the years can cause noticeable changes in how your skin looks and feels, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Not only will you see more wrinkles, but over time you'll notice more freckles, age spots, and spider veins.
However, there is a solution to help avoid all of these undesirable, negative affects that the sun can have on your skin, and that is simply to incorporate sunscreen into your daily self-care routine. Sunscreen can protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays, so that you can enjoy spending time outdoors without having to worry about its longterm affects on your skin.
~This blog was brought to you by S. Donnelly Interiors featuring Bare All Beauty. Learn more about the interior design project process by following Stephanie Donnelly and her interior design services in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and the surrounding areas!
