As you work towards establishing healthy self-care habits, reflection can make all the difference. Learning, reading and acquiring new knowledge is great, but true growth comes from experiences and reflection.
You’ve got to put things into practice. It takes practice for things to become habit or rituals. At the start of the month, Blossome Community members set out to prioritise self-care, setting their self-care intentions for the new year. Despite hectic lifestyles, they managed to create moments for themselves, leading to more rest and calm in their lives. Without reflection, this progress may have been missed. This is why we have scheduled monthly reflection calls. When we reflect, we learn and we also can acknowledge how far we’ve come.
Even if I’ve had an intense day, like today, working long hours, there’s something wonderful and healing about taking time to reflect on the day. When we reflect we are able to see and appreciate our positive experiences and progress. It helps us to feel gratitude, and it also helps us to process and learn from challenges, as things don’t always go to plan.
I encourage you to take time to reflect on your self care. Here are some ways that you can build reflection into your habits.
Journal
Have some specific questions you ask yourself to reflect on the day and write down your answers. Choose questions such as:
- What self care did I practice today?
- Why didn’t I do the self care that I had planned?
- What went well with my self care today?
- What can I learn from todays self care activities?
Writing things down makes it easier to look back on your entries and see how far you’ve come. It also helps to process your thoughts.
Go for a walk
Go for a walk in nature, giving you some time and space to reflect on the day while you listen to the birds in the trees. See what pops into your mind, as you review your self care efforts.
Talk to yourself out loud
Sometimes it’s helpful to have a conversation with yourself. I even look in the mirror while doing this. I find it easier to be truthful with myself while liking in the mirror. Reflection is only really helpful if it’s brutally honest.
However you choose to reflect, make sure to invest what you learn from your reflection, into your self care activities. Everyone’s healing journey is their own, but you don’t have to travel it alone. Join the Blossome community for support and encouragement to build healthy new habits, stay accountable and help you keep moving forward with your healing. You are worth it.
Kim Moore is the Founder of Blossome CIC. She lost her husband Chris to alcoholism in 2017. She faced a difficult journey while raising 2 children alone, with her family living on the opposite side of the world. Kim founded the Blossome Community and The Pathway to Peace healing journey so no one would have to feel alone while enduring the trauma of a loved one’s battle with alcoholism or addiction. She is also on a mission to end the generational cycle of alcoholism and addiction in families.
