By: Natasha Archary
Andy Maqondwana shared with listeners how it’s sometimes necessary to trick yourself into doing something good for you.
We’re often putting others before ourselves, making sacrifices along the way to ensure our loved ones are taken care of. Which often means that self-care gets placed on the back-burner and you are an after-thought.
Prioritizing yourself feels like a foreign concept to many Feel Good listeners and many learnt the hard way that accepting breadcrumbs whilst giving others the entire bakery is not healthy.
Putting yourself first isn’t selfish. You can’t pour into others if your cup isn’t full, now can you?
You matter too
Women in particular, find it hard to take time out for themselves or do something that is entirely for them. As wives and mothers, women naturally tend to take on the role of caregiver due to maternal instinct, and put everyone else’s needs first.
The problem with being this selfless is that it can lead to mental burnout and feeling unappreciated.
It’s not just women however, as men also feel they give without receiving the same acts of love in return.
Do something good for you
- Take care of your health
- Do what makes you happy not just what is expected of you
- Spend time with the people who reciprocate your time and energy
- Cut off those who treat you like an option
- Set boundaries with family, friends and work
- Say ‘no’ more
- Celebrate yourself
Here are other ways to trick yourself to do something good for you:
HIKES
The path less ventured is the perfect way to immerse yourself in Mother Nature once again. Beautiful sun-rises and sun-sets are just some of the perks.
If you are privileged enough to hike up a mountain trail, the fresh air could do wonders for your tired brain. Hiking is also a great cardio-vascular workout and tones muscles you would not have known you had. You get to explore areas in your city and see it in a whole new light.
There are so many incredible hiking trails in Johannesburg that you can take with the entire family, so you don’t have to go too far.
GO BAREFOOT
Remember the days when you ran around carefree and barefoot as a child? How you giggled when the prickly, cool grass touched your soles? And how blissfully stress-free you were as you frolicked on the lawn looking for bugs?
Feel like that kid again and go barefoot in your garden or local park. Your skin absorbs energy and minerals from the earth and going barefoot, especially on the beach, is said to have magnificent healing properties on your body.
CLOUD & STAR-GAZE
Transcend space-time reality and look toward the heavens, like many ancient civilizations who looked to the stars for guidance and power. For decades, science has played with the notion that humans are made of stardust.
A few years ago astro-physists and medical pathologists found that our bodies are made of remnants of stars and massive explosions that took place in the galaxies.
The theory of the big bang holds true after all. The theory is that stellar winds from a giant star caused interstellar dust to form ripples. This dust contains oxygen, carbon, iron and other elements which eventually found its way into our bodies. Whether you believe that your source of energy is inter-galactic or not, it’s breathtaking to star-gaze on summer nights, so look to the sky for that which is already within you, pure energy.
RELAX & OBSERVE
Find a place to sit down and realign your energy. Drown out the noise of everyday life and just sit and watch the natural habitat around you. There is life everywhere you look, even in bustling city skylines, there are creatures creating homes and ecosystems that are vital to our survival.
Every creepy-crawly, every slithery creature was created for a reason and it is awe-inspiring to watch them interact in their natural spaces. Imagine a world without any wild-life, with the absence of the beautiful marine life that swim freely. Not a pretty picture is it? The very bonds you have with your children, can be found with the creatures created to live in these environments with you. It is time we were more altruistic in our approach to nature.
If human beings were made to live in concrete jungles, we would ultimately be the happiest species on the planet. We would be perfectly content not seeing the sun or feeling its warmth on our skin. But we’re not are we? In a world of technological marvel and cyber splendour, we are losing the human element – the very essence of our natural state – and have distanced ourselves from nature.
Also read: 5 Bath essentials to give you an at-home spa experience
