Self care is super important, fact. As well as looking after your staff, you must also look after number one...you! If you don't give yourself the time you need, things may quickly spiral out of control leading to burnout. When your cup is empty, what do you have to give? Quite frankly.....nothing. 

Ask yourself this - when are you usually likely to do something about your health? When something’s wrong? If you nodded or quietly said “yes” out loud, you’re certainly not alone.  Self care must be viewed as a preventative approach to health, not reactive (just how we like to work at Fresh Seed; Prevention is always best!). 

Demanding schedules and difficult emotions can make it hard to practice self care, but these are often the times when it’s really needed the most. We all tend to find ourselves doing things we “need” to do such as going to work, looking after others, maintaining a household, running errands, and quite often it’s easy to neglect the things that make us happy…the things that give us energy and a sense of purpose. 

So what can you do to practice self care and help prevent burnout? Self care will be different for every individual depending on their needs, but we’ve outlined some helpful tips below:

⬜      Prioritise you - put some time aside each day just for you, even if that’s 5 -10 minutes of alone time for

breathing space and clearing your mind. Step away from your work, laptop and phone. Use the time to practice balanced breathing or meditation if that’s your thing. 

⬜     Take time to understand what your own needs are - what restores you vs what drains your energy?

⬜    Recognise where you need to put boundaries in place, and stick to these. It’s okay to say “no” when you don’t

have the capacity, or to delegate where needed. 

⬜      Make a list of your daily tasks from morning to evening. Decide whether each task is energising, restorative

and positive or draining your energy and happiness. Once complete, reflect on the balance between the two  - could you be introducing more energising moments to your day?

⬜     Reflect on the way you speak to yourself (self talk). Your inner critic can be very draining and destructive at

times. Would you speak to a friend the way you speak to yourself? Try to be mindful of this and be more compassionate with yourself. 

⬜     Think about different self care areas (Time with family, Time alone, Time for enjoyable activities, Friendships,

Relaxation & Peace, Emotional Health, Physical Health, Organisation & Structure, Being Challenged, Feeling Valued & Loved). Rate these and consider what you can do to meet your own needs in each area.

⬜    Know what your self care bank consists of and schedule in time for these. For example, listening to music,

watching a TV series, going for a walk or run, meditating, doing yoga, napping, catching up with a friend over coffee, reading a book, singing in your loudest voice, spending time on a hobby, spending time with family, organising things in your home, enjoying your favourite snack, snuggles with your partner, pets or children, learning something new, a new Lego set (We’re all different!). 

If you’re looking for further guidance around wellbeing in general, reach out to us at info@freshseed.co.uk or using our contact form below. We can help you with your wellbeing strategy as well as provide different areas of training.