It’s Time to Talk About Self-Care

When we first went into quarantine, I thought, despite all the uncertainty and fear, at least I could finally escape my long commute, spend more time at home, and finally practice some self-care. Self-care is a seemingly easy goal—take time for yourself to restore or foster your mental, emotional, and physical health. But how many of us really take the time to deliberately pause and take care of ourselves?

For me, work quickly blended into home life, chores took over, and previously enjoyable things, like cooking dinner, felt overwhelming and burdensome. I knew that I desperately needed to commit to a nice walk outside or 30 minutes of yoga, but those activities seemed like too big of a leap. 

Here are three tips for easing into and developing a self-care routine. 

Self-care is the key to improved mood and reduced anxiety. But oftentimes, the things that cause us stress still need to get done. So how can we make them more bearable and even enjoyable? 

Knowing that I couldn’t avoid my work, I would start each day by lighting a candle. The warmth, flicker of the flame, and gentle scent instantly brightened my mood and allowed me to ease into my assignments for the day.

Soon, I would wake up each morning, looking forward to starting my workday with a calming candle. 

A lit candle is almost encouragement to take a break and completely sink into relaxation. Take time to disconnect from your computer or phone. My Haven candle is so beautiful, that I just wanted to curl up on the couch, admire it, and finish my coffee in complete peace for an extra ten minutes. 

This simple act of self-care was just what I needed for a short, restorative escape from a typical weekday.

Settle into a routine that brings you joy and restores motivation. Lighting a candle to set a calming mood and incorporating peaceful breaks helped me create balance in this new work-from-home world. 

And as an added bonus, my Haven candle refills are delivered right to my door on a scheduled basis so that I can continue to incorporate candles into my daily self-care routine.