Motivation Only Goes as Far as Your Self-Care

When we get caught up in busy lives and caring for other people, it can be easy to forget the importance of giving ourselves the same love and attention. At this stage of life it can already be difficult to balance our responsibilities from school to work to a social life, so much so that we often forget to take care of our personal needs. This may seem like a last priority on your never ending to-do list, but self-care is key to personal growth. When we are physically and emotionally exhausted, we are less able to handle the stresses that we face day-to-day. On the flip side, if we make time to take care of ourselves, we are better able to handle daily stresses and work towards our goals when we have the physical and emotional stability to do so. 

At the "trial-independence" age when many of us leave home, move off to school, and start our careers, we may become overwhelmed with the constant demands we face. With this newly gained independence, we may feel motivated to try to cram as much into our schedule at any given time as possible. After all, thats what it takes to be successful right?

Burnout

As much as you might believe that is true, it is actually the opposite. When we constantly overwhelm ourselves, it can lead to a state of "burnout". Burnout is a state of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. When we reach this state, it can lead you to lose motivation and interest that pushed you to make commitments originally. As a result of burnout, you can experience a decline your energy and you feelings of resent, hopelessness, and irritability across all areas of your life. 

Reaching burnout obviously is undesirable and our motivation to accomplish goals suffers greatly. Saying this, it is also very unrealistic to simply say that you should just cut back your responsibilities, or skip out on opportunities. Rather, it is important to find a good balance which may take practice as every person is different in the amount of stress they can tolerate. Considering this, it is important to first recognize some of the symptoms of reaching burnout which can be physical, emotional, and/or behavioural. 

Physical Symptoms

• Drowsiness  most of the time
• Frequent illness
• Consistent headaches or muscle pain
• Change in appetite or sleeping patterns

Emotional Symptoms

• Feelings of self doubt, helplessness, and defeat
  
• Detachment
• Negative outlook
• Loss of motivation
• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

Behavioural Symptoms

• Withdrawing from responsibilities
  
• Isolating yourself from others
• Procrastination
• Taking out your frustration on others
• Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
• Skipping or arriving late to work or school 

Tips to Incorporating Self-Care into your Routine

In general, self-care is making time to do things for yourself that make you happy, relax you, and make you feel good. Two major categories of self care that are important to focus on are physical and mental/emotional. 

Physically, it is important to take care of yourself. You cannot reach your fullest potential if you feel physically unhealthy or self-conscious. Some easy ways to care for your physical health include:

• Try a new yoga class: This may only take an hour out of your day or your week but it brings so many relaxing benefits! Yoga has been known to relive stress, reduce muscle tension, sharpen attention and concentration, and calms the nervous system (Visit Pure Yoga Ottawa!) 
• Drink water first thing in the morning: When we are dehydrated it can lead to a lack of energy. Drinking water first thing in the morning and all throughout the day helps in both increasing  alertness and energy levels while balancing our mood. 
• Take a hot bath: There are several benefits to taking time for a hot bath including relaxing your joints, bones, and muscles. Taking a bath can also balance your hormones with hot baths increasing levels of serotonin which is the chemical in the brain associated with happiness and wellbeing. 
• Get a massage: Getting a massage all the time may not be affordable for everyone, however there are many benefits to treating yourself to a massage occasionally. Massages can be helpful in soothing anxiety, headaches, insomnia related to stress, and some pains and strains.

Mental and emotional stability is also essential for personal growth so it is important to take time to care for these aspects of yourself as well. Some simple things to incorporate into your self-care routine include:

• Confront your negativity: taking time to acknowledge the negative thoughts that pass through our minds at times is a good way to maintain them as to prevent them from taking over the positive thoughts. 
• Write down 5 things every day that made you smile: Even during what may seem like the worst day ever, there are things to be grateful for. Whether it's the puppy you saw walk past you on the sidewalk, the person that held the door for you at school, or the promotion you got at work there is always something during our day to smile about. Taking time to reflect on these things can you to set a more continually positive perspective.
• Detox from technology and work: With so much of our school and work being done online, it can be hard to separate our personal down time from the constant work emails and calls. We also spend an excess amount of time browsing social media on a daily basis. For these reasons it may feel like our entire day is spent looking at a screen. Considering this, it is important to make efforts to limit our screen time or even just take time each day before bed to unwind without our phones and computers. For more information on digital detoxes, click here.

When we take care of ourselves we have the motivation to accomplish so much more. Filling our schedules to the point that we burnout is counterproductive. Even if it feels like we are accomplishing more in the short term, we are setting ourselves up for failure in the long haul. At the end of the day, when we feel good we do good. So develop a balance and take time out of your busy schedule for you!

Sincerely, Emalee 

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References

• 10 Scientifically Proven Health Benefits of Taking a Bath. (2018, September 27). Retrieved from https://pmaonline.com/posts/adult-primary-care/10-scientifically-proven-health-benefits-of-taking-a-bath/
• Burnout Prevention and Treatment. (2019, February 13). Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm/
• Never had a massage? What you should know. (2018, October 06). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/massage/art-20045743
• Shannon-Karasik, C. (2018, November 14). 25 Little Ways You Can Practice Self-Care Every Day. Retrieved from https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a24886599/self-care-routine-tips/
• Take a Stand for Yoga Today. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/get-hardy/201305/take-stand-yoga-today
• Why top executives swear by a 30-second morning habit anyone can adopt. (2016, September 23). Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-drink-water-when-they-wake-up-2016-9