Why Self Care is a Must.

Self care has lately become a sort of a buzzword. It sounds like an overly indulgent activity mostly geared towards females BUT it is so much more than that. In my opinion, self-care is anything ones does (males, females, kids, elderly) intentionally to take better care of their emotional, mental, spiritual, and mental health. It is not something you ‘should’ do in order to check off the list. Personally, my biggest struggle with self-care is practicing it consistently because when 100 things are happening all at once, self-care tends to get ignored leaving me more stressed and frazzled. I am dealing some personal things right now so in order to stay calm, happy, and sane – self-care has been a major priority. It is sometimes viewed as a selfish practice (which doesn’t make sense) but I have found self-care to be a MUST for everyone and here are few reasons why.

I have partnered with Riviera Spa to bring you this post. All opinions are as always 100% mine!

It’s nourishing & enriching: It seems like the more I try to find balance and perfection, the more I suck at it, meaning somethings always gotta give. It is hard for me to say ‘no’ most of the time but I am slowly learning to prioritize what is more important and letting go of other less important things. For example: blogging has taken a major step back because I am spending more time sleeping and resting because I feel drained all the time. While sleeping is an essential activity it is sometimes a struggle to find that uninterrupted rest hence, I treat uninterrupted sleep as my self-care practice. It sounds like a minor thing but my mental + physical health is in much better shape because of adequate rest. Self care practice shouldn’t be forced or make you feel guilty.

Self-care looks different for everyone and depending on the situation, it changes and that’s okay. It could be sleep one day and next day could be a coffee date with your friend. There is no right or wrong way of doing self-care! 

You absolutely deserve it: Don’t let media or otherwise tell you what a self-care is or should be. For a lot of us (especially newbies) taking time away from “doing what you are suppose to do” is hard enough, all these mixed messages on self-care can be overwhelming. Self-care doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive, it can be as simple as watching your favorite show (without feeling forced to fold clothes or cook), leisure reading, facetime with your friend, or doing absolutely nothing. I don’t want to go into details but self-care is for everyone – not just female. I get that it is geared more towards women because they are typically the nurturers + givers but let’s not discount the fact that men are equally deserving of self-care!

My work involves a lot of driving to different sites + sitting down which is strenuous on my posture. So when Riviera Spa invited me for a full-body massage, I jumped right in. In spite of a busy schedule, I went ahead and blocked 2 hours for myself because the schedule is never not busy, am I right??

Riviera Spa (located in Dallas) is a full service spa that offers everything from full body massage to spray tan. They also accept FSA (Flexible Spending Account) which is a major bonus if you qualify. I received wellness massage from Jamie and she worked her magic on my back +  neck knots. Getting a massage was both mentally and physically relaxing because of the ambience and service by the Riviera Spa staff.

It’s for others around you: In thisdemanding world (like you already don’t know), we are constantly giving one thing or the other every single day. Be it time, money, attention, physical presence, attitude, love, hard labor and so forth. In order to whole heartedly do that, you need to practice self-care more everyday to continually give back. It is very easy to get sucked into daily hustle and ignore our health & well-being (sometimes it’s too late) which is why practicing self-care is sometimes for others around you – your loved ones, families, friends, employers, neighbors etc.

If you are in Dallas area and need a spa day (hello self-care), I highly recommend checking out Riviera Spa and different services they offer. It’s a really nice facility + loved how everyone professionally acknowledge your needs. 

It’s more than being “healthy”: Self-care doesn’t mean you have to do things thats are necessarily considered “healthy”. The whole idea is to find more balance and less stress in your life. For example – if you absolutely hate yoga or journaling is not your thing, find your thing to make you happy and relaxed. If you need a fro-yo + venting date with your friend, just do that. The idea of healthy is different for different people and it changes all the time. Some days you need to do things that are physically good for your heart (go cardio!) or strength training but if you are not in peace with your mental + emotional health, it is best to give extra attention to those aspects of your health!

What is your idea of self-care? 
o you struggle with practicing self-care?

Thank you Riviera Spa being part of my self-care practice!