5 Ways to Prioritize Your Wellbeing in 2022
Where do you fall on your list of priorities?
Seems like a funny question, doesn’t it? I might have caught you off-guard, or you might have found yourself reading that line a second time, just to be sure there wasn’t a typo.
But it was no mistake, so I ask again: Where do YOU— your mental health, your emotional regulation, your self care— fall on your list of priorities?
A Welcome Mindset Shift
“You are worth the time and investment to feel whole.”
If you’re anything like most people out there, I’m willing to guess it’s pretty low on the list, maybe falling somewhere around “remodel the kitchen” and “plan my 2022 garden.” We have a tendency to let other things take precedence to our wellbeing— things like work and social gatherings, our loved ones, goals and timelines.
When we don’t prioritize our own wellbeing, though, all of those other things that came before ourselves on the list are honestly a moot point. If we aren’t renewed and replenished in mind, body, and spirit, everything else only gets a fraction of our energy, focus, and intention.
We burn out. We feel drained by social connection when we should feel rejuvenated. We don’t meet our goals; we lose our sense of intention. The garden and kitchen remodel certainly never come to fruition.
We simply cannot operate from a place of emptiness, no matter how hard we try and try again.
This year, I embolden you to put yourself at the top of the list. You are worth the time and investment to feel whole. Your mental health matters.
Making Yourself a Priority Again
“Know where you most find joy and go there each and every day.”
Here are some ways you can prioritize your own wellbeing this year:
1) Make yourself of the mindset that self-care is the furthest thing from selfish. There is a mistaken narrative in society that it is selfish to participate in the things that fill your well before all other needs are met— phone calls returned, text messages and emails read, “yes” said to all social engagements. But self-care is crucial to showing up 100% in all of those spaces. You see, when your own cup is full, you have a little extra to spare for everyone else.
2) Consider your wellness a balance of mind, body, and soul. Often times, we prioritize one of these three elements at a time and call it good. We might become more active physically, but fail to take care of our mind at the same time, wondering why we still feel so depleted. True wellbeing stems from a place of reciprocity between every part of yourself— mind, body, AND soul.
3) Know where you most find joy and go there each and every day. It’s interesting to me how few of us know where we find true, uninhibited joy anymore. We’re often too busy doing everything else to remember what most brings a smile to our face. I encourage you to release your inner child and explore the things that make you happy— taking on a new craft, getting lost in a good book, going for a hike. Give yourself the gift of joy.
4) Understand the difference between self care and self compassion, and be sure self-compassion comes first. Without self-compassion, self care is a lost cause. One cannot exist without the other. (Read ‘The Difference Between Self Care and Self Compassion (and Why We Need One More than the Other’ to learn more.)
5) Give yourself permission to simply “be.” Let go of the idea that you have to “do” all of the time: do more, do better, do it all. Let yourself be with yourself on a regular basis. Listen to what your body and mind need. Slow down and be a human being, not a human doing.
Do me a favor, and revisit that list of priorities for the year. Grab some white out or start crossing things out in pen. Do whatever you need to do to put yourself and your wellbeing at the very top of the list because you belong there. Your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health matters.
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