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Want to make self care cozy?
Amp up your self-care this cozy season!
Some of my favorite ways to utilize self care & make it seasonal.
Surviving Dawn
Going on a journey to romanticize your life can bring so much to your day-to-day life. Oftentimes, we may feel stuck or in a rut, sometimes we may not know what to do or how to get out of it & pour back into ourselves. While there are many resources available to us to help us to “better” our lives, each one differs. Today I want to talk about how I use the seasons to help with romanticizing my self care routines & bring joy back into my life when it feels stagnant.
Get Out of your Head & into your Body this Autumn Season
Having always struggled with nourishing myself, I find that I easily fall into a routine of doing the things that serve others before myself. Prioritizing myself doesn’t come easily. Being a mom, employee, girlfriend, daughter, sister, friend, etc. comes with a lot of responsibilities. People depend on me for certain things. My love language is acts of service to those around me…to bluntly put it, I am a people pleaser. That being said, I have learned that I can’t pour into those around me, without first, prioritizing myself. I’ve had to learn this the hard way. By not taking care of myself & my needs, I had burnt myself out to the point where I could no longer give back.
Neglecting ourselves & our needs is a huge recipe for disaster. Self care can mean a lot of different things for everyone. To me, it means making my needs & desires just as important as the needs of those I love. This can be hard because sometimes I feel selfish if I am putting myself first. However, that fear of being selfish quickly diminishes when I see the chaos that is neglecting my needs.
Surviving Dawn
Self-care= taking care of your mental, physical, emotional, & spiritual well being.
Neglecting your self-care can look like:
- Burn out
- Tired
- Unmotivated
- Bad Moods
- Sadness
- Low focus
- Carelessness
- Lethargy
- Stress
- Anger
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So why is this bad? If we let this neglect take over our lives, we no longer have control over it anymore. Not having control leads to letting yourself down, letting others down, becoming stuck in your head, feeling lost, & ultimately fighting for your life to get back on track.
10 Ways to incorporate seasonal self-care to romanticize & keep things fresh!
1. Add an Autumn Morning Routine
Get up & leave your phone on the nightstand. Take a moment to give gratitude for yet another day. Make your favorite warm drink…(pumpkin spice latte, chai tea latte, espresso, hot apple cider) & sit with your breathing for a few minutes. Do your prayers, meditation, affirmations, whatever it may be, & truly sit with it. Do a 10 minute stretch to get your blood flowing & body moving. Don’t forget to HYDRATE. Make yourself a nutritious breakfast & eat undistracted. Having a morning routine doesn’t have to mean rush around, try to have an intentional morning.
2. Enjoy Autumn Activities
Joining in on the cliche seasonal things can be so rewarding & it doesn’t always have to break the bank. The list is endless of things you can do to embrace the season & get enjoyment out of it. It can be going to the community festivals & parades, it can be gathering & doing themed dinner nights with friends, it can be spending time with just your immediate family or even just yourself & incorporating fall activities into your day. Need some ideas?…Get into the spirit with this small list of my favorite autumn activities.
3. Curl up with your favorite blanket & Read
I have always loved curling up with a good book, but there is something so captivating to me about seasonal reading. Imagine it’s raining outside, the autumn leaves are falling, dinner is in the crock pot, & you’re on the couch with your favorite book. For me, I love self help books & especially this time of year, I love fantasy & folk lore!
4. Have fun with your food
I would be lying if I said I was motivated to cook a home cooked meal every night but I do like to make it an enjoyable experience if I can. I like to romanticize it by turning on my record player & playing music, drinking a glass of wine or even a seasonal mock tail, dimming the lights & just creating. I love autumn time to make dinner because it is so easy to use all of the food groups & come up with so many recipes. Some of my favorite autumn recipes can be as easy as throwing it in a crock pot to putting extra love & care into the meal.
5. Get out in Nature
Every season is beautiful in it’s own way. I love Autumn for many reasons, but one of them being that we are literally watching mother nature transition into something new. I used to think how sad it was that everything starts dying & getting ready for winter but now I see it differently. It’s actually beautiful to watch as mother nature gives us our final harvest before going to rest. The crisp foggy mornings, the falling leaves, the bright warm colors, even the rainy days are so cozy & beautiful. Get outside, go for a nature walk, drink your coffee on the porch, watch the deer & turkey come out, listen to the falling leaves, & just breathe. There are so many ways you can use nature as self-care.
6. Add a soundtrack to your day
One of my favorite ways to romanticize life is by adding a little music. It’s like my own way of reminding myself that I am the main character in my life. Like many other things I love switching my music up & seasonal is a great way to do that. Create an autumn list & play it whenever. I like to listen to cottage core, instrumental, alternative, maybe some jazz, gospel, etc. My autumn playlist is just as random as me, but it makes sense to me. I love turning it on when I take a shower, cook, clean, & just let it quietly play in the background.
7. Watch seasonal films
Autumn is one of the best times to curl up & watch a good movie or binge your favorite show. I have the same sequence of shows/movies every autumn that I just love to watch. My favorite autumn shows bring me comfort & joy in watching them so I have no shame in re-watching them every year. I encourage you to find some for yourself or feel free to check out my favorite ones & get to watching.
8. Take a hot bubble bath
Bubble baths are perfect for winding down after a long day & nowadays, you can incorporate so many ways to spruce it up & even make it autumn themed! By adding just a little bit to your bath you can easily make it feel like a spa. Light some fall scented candles, use some bath bombs, fall scented bubbles, make an autumn drink to take, dim the lights, play some music, throw on a face mask, & just sit & relax. These sorts of baths can be so therapeutic.
9. Light some Autumn candles
There seems to be no better way to make your home feel warm & cozy than to light candles. Why not make it fun? There are thousands of fall scented candles you can buy, or even make! If you are like me, then some candles give you a headache, but you can still find low toxin, soy candles that won’t just fill your home with toxins! Plus a bonus, a lot of candles come in such cute displays that you can use as decor long after the wax burns!
10. Allow time for Gratitude
While some see this time as their favorite season, others may not feel the same. Autumn season means cooler weather, back to school, running kids all over for extra curriculars, gardens drying up, crops drying up, holidays coming, this year the election, & many more not so fun things to expect. Seasonal depression is a real thing, that is why I believe it is so important to take a moment every day to give thanks. Life can be so hard, so challenging, that you struggle to see the good going on. It is sometimes impossible to find the good in the bad. I implore you, take that breath, look around, be grateful to be alive, to be loved, to be able to love, to have a roof over your head, to be fed. Know that you are here for a reason, for a purpose, & be grateful for the opportunity to experience this wonderful life.
In Summary
Prioritizing yourself isn’t always easy but my hope is that this has helped! Always remember, you are bigger than your fears, greater than your flaws, & more important than you will ever know!
XOXO,
Courtie D