PLEASE Take Care of You
As we move full swing into Christmas festivities and all the busyness and fatigue it brings as we try to catch up with everyone and buy presents, its worth investing in reducing your emotional vulnerability to ultimately put yourself in the driver’s seat for managing your emotions effectively.
By developing a lifestyle that caters towards taking good care of yourself you increase your immunity towards managing stress. What better time to do that then now.
There is a great acronym PLEASE to remind us of all the ingredients needed to build a more robust emotional self.
PLis for treat physical lLlness. It seems obvious but many a mother diligently takes her child to the doctors but ignores her own physical warning signs of illness. If it has been a while or you’ve been ignoring symptoms, book in for a check up. Also take any prescribed medication and rest when you show signs of illness. Not only will you recover quicker, you reduce the chances of a physical illness spilling over into unhelpful emotional responses.
Eis health eating. It is common for mums to find themselves skipping meals or snacking on high energy foods to give themselves the hit they need to get stuff done. Planning for nutritious meals, will have you feeling energised inside and out. The next time you pack school lunches, think about packing your own lunch.
Ais for avoiding mood altering drugs. What goes up must come down. There are no short cuts to feeling good. Generally, if it’s not prescribed by a doctor, short acting feel good drugs will leave you feeling worse when they wear off. Employ moderation and care to your next night out and you’ll get the best of both worlds.
Sis for sleep which is a no brainer and not always so easy to execute if you are attending to children or have trouble switching off once the sun goes down. Try to get yourself to bed on time and know that any form of rest is restorative. Be kind to yourself on days when your running low, as it’s hard to feel great when sleep deprived.
E is for exercise and is my go to activity to relieve stress and improve energy levels. If its been a while, start by walking and build up from there. Don’t let the excuses get in the way of making time to release those feel good hormones.
