England Boxing Wellbeing Monthly: Self-care

This month’s focus is all on self-care, and this will be the theme of the Box In Mind course. You can book your place by clicking here.

What is self-care?

Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, feel well, do your job or work, you can help and care for others, and do all the things you need and want to accomplish in a day.

Examples of self-care can be exercising and eating healthy. Another example of self-care is to stop beating yourself up for a mistake you made.

Why is it important?

Looking after ourselves is important. It is especially so when you have taken on additional responsibilities, are facing new challenges or feel uncertain about the present or what the future holds. These situations can throw us out of balance, impacting our physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Taking care of ourselves is neither selfish nor indulgent and it is really important that we are capable of looking out for ourselves and others. We all need a little “me” time.

We tend to think that self-care is a waste of time and feel guilty when we’re not doing what we should be doing. But, we need to give ourselves permission to do less.

A lack of self-care causes stress. Taking care of ourselves is restorative and people who take care of themselves are happier and have more stamina, meaning they get more accomplished.

How can we practise self-care?

Give yourself permission to take on less and stop multitasking. It will help you be more efficient and effective. Taking a moment for yourself will remind you of your worth and this will help you to rejuvenate and make you more productive. If your job is to take care of someone else, this is your opportunity to start taking care of yourself. You will see a shift in your ability to take care of others.

Limit your to-do list to five things. How many times has your head hit the pillow with the satisfaction that you got everything done on your list? Hardly ever, and this is because your to-do list is too long and usually impossible to complete. Demanding less of yourself will reduce your stress level. Just because we can do more,  doesn’t mean that we must. Say no.

Make a list of self-care activities that resonate with you, aiming for the list to have 10 different activities. Keep the list close to you and take, at least, one mini-break where you incorporate a self-care activity from your list.

Hear what self-care means to current European champion Harris Akbar (above), and GB Boxing’s Tori-Ellis Willetts (below), and how they practise it.

Remember: Stay safe, be kind and care for yourself.