Did You Hear? February is the New January!

This concept (to use January for warm-up and stage-setting for the rest of the year) has helped me so much – especially with AMI’s 31-day Easy Self-care Challenge, which came to its end on January 31. Specifically, by removing my sense of overwhelm, this new revelation improved my enthusiasm for self-care throughout February and beyond.

Each time we run the monthly challenge (this was our fourth time), my self-care practice deepens as I continue to tweak my daily habits in service of having a more balanced life. For example, in past challenges, I incorporated some very helpful, permanent habits into my daily self-care routine, such as:

• Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning
• Adding essential oil to my after-shower body lotion
• Joy Journaling a.m. and p.m.

Even these simple self-care habits took a few years to fully incorporate, but now they’re so ingrained in my routine I NEVER miss them – just like brushing my teeth.

In this most recent challenge, even though I didn’t meet all my goals perfectly, I feel great about having made good progress. Perhaps that’s my biggest personal takeaway this time - that self-care is a long-term game, and it’s all about “progress” rather than “perfection.”

Some of my self-care goals this time carried over from previous years since I haven’t quite pushed them over the line yet. My three big goals for this year’s challenge were to:

• Go to bed earlier (1:00 am curfew)
• Get more movement into my daily life: (at least) one 10-minute walk per day, three 30-min walks per week, two 60-minute yoga classes per week
• Increase volume of “enlightening inputs:” (at least) 5x per week reading, listening, or watching something that provides a new perspective

I know – they’re pretty basic, right? But as the old saying goes: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Another self-care action I committed to during January was “doing one nice thing for myself “ every day – something above and beyond what I might normally do on an everyday basis. Here are a few examples of some of the nice things I did for myself:

• Bundled up and spent some time outdoors (enjoying our first fire pit of the year, and surveying my herb hill and it’s “winter face,” while thinking of what I will do this spring with gardening!)
• Inaugurated my new juicer – made mandarin, lemon and lime juice – DELICIOUS!
• Took 60-minute walk on a sunny day even though the cedar pollens were high and it was windy outside (I wore a mask!) – and even though I had TONS of work to do. New rule: if it’s sunny outside, I will make time to take a walk!
• Rescheduled a non-essential meeting to give myself more breathing room
• Had an in-person visit with my sister

Finding your best self-care formula is probably a lifelong proposition; I know it is for me. But I’m getting better at it, little by little. Now with my self-care for 2021 getting off to a good start, I feel highly motivated to persevere and make this my best self-care year ever!

How is YOUR self-care coming along so far this year? It’s never too late to start – and don’t forget – now you have FEBRUARY as well!

• One-page self-assessment questionnaire
• List of 31 easy self-care ideas

• Adequate sleep
• Good nutrition and hydration
• Regular body movement
• Enlightening inputs
• Time for yourself

Zero in on the ONE area where you feel you could use improvement.

List up one thing you could do every day that would get you one step closer to your goal.

Take that one small action - every day - until it becomes a regular habit for you - just like brushing your teeth!