5 Self-Care Tips to Help You Relax During Your Time Off

5 Self-Care Tips to Help You Relax and Recharge

Self-care is a phrase we’re all familiar with — but is it something we put into practice?

Often, it’s easy to prioritize our other, more urgent responsibilities above taking care of ourselves. However, it’s essential that we prioritize self-care if we want to continue to thrive and succeed in our daily routines.

One of the best ways to start taking care of yourself is during your time off. Whether you have an evening or a week off, it’s essential to rest and make the most of your time away from your responsibilities. But how?

Here are five strategies to help you relax and recharge.

1. Allow yourself to rest.

Whenever we have downtime, it can be tempting to use that time to get caught up on other tasks or responsibilities and not take time to recharge. We can easily find ourselves trying to get ahead on our workloads, catch up on housework, or begin planning for the weeks ahead. While it’s important to tend to our other responsibilities, it’s essential that we take time to actually rest if we want to continue managing everything well.

Set aside time to just relax — whatever that looks like for you. For some, it may be catching up on sleep or going for a walk. For others, it may be reading a good book or just taking time to sit quietly on a rainy day. Be intentional about resting during your time away. By doing so, you’ll be able to return to your responsibilities fully rested and ready to tackle all that lay ahead.

2. Prioritize physical health.

In the busyness of everyday life, it’s easy to let self-care slide, especially when it comes to our physical health. We often feel we can’t afford to get enough sleep due to our other responsibilities or struggle to eat healthy when it’s easier to grab fast food on the go. However, in order to keep operating at our best, we need to prioritize taking care of our physical needs.

Take time to do the things you often let slip or don’t feel like you have time for. Be sure you’re getting enough sleep, prioritizing healthy eating, and exercising regularly. By prioritizing your physical health when you have extra time it will make it easier to incorporate those things into your everyday routine when your normal responsibilities resume.

3. Do something you enjoy.

For many of us, our hobbies and interests are the first things to go on our list of things to do. However, setting aside time to do what you enjoy can help you to truly relax and unplug from your responsibilities and feel rejuvenated and fulfilled during your time away.

What do you enjoy doing? What is that thing you always wish you had more time to do? Whatever that is for you, schedule a few hours during your time away to do that. You’ll be amazed at how much more rested and more fulfilled you’ll feel!

4. Enjoy the moment.

Often, many of us spend most of our days looking forward. We are constantly thinking about what’s coming next, what we need to do and how we can prepare for the future — so much so that we can forget where we are now. In order to truly rest, we need to be able to stop and be present in the moment.

Practice enjoying the present by spending time in nature, even if it’s just a short walk around your neighborhood. There’s something about being outdoors, hearing the birds chirping, feeling the breeze and seeing the vast sky overhead that can refocus our minds on the present. By being more mindful of ourselves and our surroundings, we can begin to unplug from our future concerns and truly enjoy our times of rest.

5. Practice gratitude.

In the craziness of our everyday lives, it’s easy to forget how much we have to be thankful for. We become so fixated on what we need to do or don’t have that we fail to see how fortunate we are.

Being grateful starts by taking small steps. Start by finding something to enjoy wherever you are, even if it’s something small like a fresh cup of coffee, a good song or nice weather. Doing so will help you retrain your brain to find joy in everyday moments and truly appreciate what you have.

Taking care of yourself isn’t a one-time effort — it takes intentional, everyday actions. But the more you do it, the easier it will become to work self-care into your daily routine and continue to thrive in your daily responsibilities.