Self Care Questions to Ask Yourself to Master It

I recently had a magical detox weekend.  I decided I need to fully dedicate to a wellness weekend to give my body a much needed reset due to the 100 day marathon of Summertime in Chicago catching up with me.  It was an all-in or all-out situation, and I happily chose the former.  

Self Care Questions to Ask Yourself to Master It

I’d like to say I’ve become a master in self-care.  I’m the first to admit if something isn’t my strong suit, but I’m damn good at doing things for my mind, body, and soul that make me feel good.  Not to brag, but whatever.  My body had been sending me physical alarm bells all week: I was feeling fatigued, puffy, not sleeping well, and had just a general sensation of “blah.”  Now, old (and sometimes current) Nic would ignore these signals and keep on keeping on, likely due to feeling that I’m missing out or the fact that I’m an inherent people pleaser (but I’m working on it...more on that here). 

I had the option to go about my weekend and continue to feel rundown. But I’ve learned over the years that if my physical body is sending me alarm bells and I choose to ignore them, the anxiety will be sure to follow. So, this time I went another route.  I cleared the schedule to the best of my abilities and fully committed to a weekend of self-care.

How have I become a master at self-care? 

Glad you asked. I’d like to consider myself a pretty self aware person -- shoutout to therapy!  But really, I’ve done years of self exploration and work to figure out who I am and what fulfills me.  If you find yourself unsure how to self-care, especially when it’s in a proactive sense and not reactive to current symptoms -- here are a few questions you can ask yourself.

1. What are the things that I love to do? 

For me, this includes socializing, but also balancing it with enough alone time with my Netflix, eating (but not cooking obviously), playing with my dog niece, dancing, doing pilates, indulging in spa-like activities.  I feel like this is the definition of being basic, but I’m ok with that. 

2. What makes me feel good? 

My answer to this is sufficient rest, meditation, moving my body, gratitude journaling, taking daily supplements, being surrounded by good energy people, taking baths, listening to happy music, having a good beauty routine, and staying hydrated to name a few. 

3. What does my body need right now? 

This particular weekend, my body was telling me loud and clear it needed rest and a detox due to it’s achey, puffy and fatigued state. I was fatigued from constantly being on the go, and likely dehydrated as well. 

4. How can I accomplish this? 

I referred to my trusty self-care list, and simply picked the things that I love to do and make me feel good that applied to my current symptoms.  I cleaned up my diet (until pizza Sunday), got a facial, had a massage, worked out and crushed some rest.   

So I woke up on Monday feeling like a brand new person physically. And I also felt very mentally sharp (the mind/body connection, yo!). I also don’t have to worry about anxiety being a sneaky B any time soon. Another W for the anxious.