7 Signs You Should Be Taking Better Care Of Yourself

I remember the time when I worked 32 days in a row—without a single moment to myself. Here I was, a wellness professional, and I was having a hard time making time for my own self-care.

To be totally honest, this isn't too uncommon, wellness professional or not. Today, we're digital. We're on-the-go. We have devices we carry around with us that allow us to work 24/7 if we so choose. Work is always available.

And while this may seem like it's great for our careers, it can hinder our mental mindset, our connection with ourselves, our creativity, and our performance. If we work around the clock, it's pretty hard (if not impossible) to show up as our best selves. If we don't recharge, we don't allow ourselves to be in our full power.

When we're centered and taking care of ourselves, we treat others with the same compassion we've been showing ourselves. But without time to ourselves, it's easy to let every little thing that doesn't go according to plan annoy or bother us. Just as they say before any airplane flight, you need to put your own oxygen mask on before you assist others. Because if you don't have your own survival mechanisms in place, you can't help anyone else.

With overwhelm, we're always trying to get just one more thing done. And this "one more thing" usually correlates with being late. You're trying to get it all done and your intentions are good, but you being late only winds up creating more stress for you and may make who you're meeting with feel less valued.

You may also be late because your inspiration is gone and you're burnt out.

Difficulty sleeping can result from many things. But when I see it in clients, it's usually stress-related. If you're having anxiety attacks that also can be a sign your body (and mind) is looking for a release and something in your life needs to be changed. And that change is where self-care comes in.

There's a certain feeling of power and accomplishment that comes from the outside world when we're busy, working all the time, and getting things done. But if we don't take the time to recharge ourselves, we miss the energy of enjoying life, nurturing, and fostering our own creative powers and connection with ourselves. It's this balance that allows for a grounded, peaceful person who can show up fully and authentically for their life.

Cooking, exercising, sleeping, and reflecting are key components of happy, healthy people. We may not always be able to do each of these enough, but if you can never do any of these enough, that's a sure-fire sign you need more self-care.

These very activities—alone—are self-care.

If a day off seems foreign to you, you need it more than anyone. Enjoy it. Savor it.

What to do: Spend time doing activities that light up your soul—maybe that's hiking, practicing yoga, attending a cooking class, writing, visiting with friends, journaling, or reading.

Practicing self-care allows us to show up as our best selves, to do our best work, and to live with intention. So while it may seem hard to make it happen at first, it's something that will guide you to showing up in this world as a better human.