There is nothing worse than dragging our butts through the day.

Feeling like all we want to do is lie down in bed, but instead having to pack the kids’ lunches, drive to work and spend the day sending a plethora of e-mails we wish would send themselves, can be a miserable way to spend our time.

Living in this type of exhaustion sucks the joy out of our lives, and it can’t be too good for our physical health either.

One of the challenges I am observing is that many people’s idea of self-care is actually more work.

We have been lead to believe that self-care is actually pushing ourselves through more activities that fuel the exhaustion.

We think self-care is going to three yoga classes a week, starting a new cleanse, buying a new cookbook, attending a retreat or learning more about a new spiritual teaching.

For many of us, self-care is simply another big “should” in our lives—another place we attack ourselves for not being enough and not doing a good enough job.

I would like to suggest another way to view it.

To me, self-care is activating the reset button.

It is choosing activities and making mental, physical and spiritual choices that bring me back to feeling refreshed and full of vitality again.

This is necessary.

I give a lot in my work as an energy healer and meditation teacher, and while the work feeds me, excites me and fulfills me, I also notice that exhaustion can quickly set in if I don’t take a break.

Each of us needs to find what brings us back to feeling like we are in a high vibrational state.

We need to be brutally honest with ourselves and separate what we think should be good for us from what actually feels good for us

Maybe we think going out with our friends for drinks on Friday night helps us shed off the stress from the week. But perhaps we wake up with a headache every Saturday morning and feel more exhausted than we do on Mondays.

The tell-tale signs that we are coming into a sense of vitality are a calm mind, relaxed shoulders, tingling through the body as energy starts flowing again and an inner sense that we can manage our lives.

This is important.

When we live in a constant state of exhaustion and overwhelm, a low vibrational state comes into our system, and we start to attract other low vibrational situations into our life such as conflict, illness, financial troubles and a distracted mind.

So, here are 10 of the ways I find particularly beneficial for returning to my own vitality after exhaustion has set in. They’ll seem obvious—but they only work if we actually do them.

1. Walking alone in nature while practicing mindfulness
2. Taking an ayurvedic oil bath.
3. Masturbating, and then pausing in the glow of the higher vibration.
4. Majorly rehydrating.
5. Taking a nap in a very quiet environment.
6. Doing a body scan where I run the energy through my entire body.
7. Practicing yin yoga, cultivating a relaxed mind while holding yoga poses for three to five minutes.
8. Practicing mindful eating. Eating my meal nice and slow while noticing the colors, textures and smells.
9. Doing some free movement—dancing, shaking and shifting in any way I am guided until everything feels released.
10. Doing something kind for my body—maybe some foot lotion applied slowly.

And of course, these are just my suggestions.

When making healthy self-care (that effectively combats our exhaustion) part of our everyday lives, the important thing is that it actually works for us.

The self-care choices we make have to truly make us feel cared for. They need to lessen our exhaustion and increase our sense of feeling good, of feeling ready to take on the world.

Self-care needs to be approached from a place of love and kindness—not an “I have to and I’m not good enough” attitude.

If there is pressure and stress associated with self-care, then we are just going to exhaust ourselves more.

So, take the time to experiment.

Try out different self-care choices, and really notice, at a sensory level, how you feel after.

If the feeling is more drained, then I would suggest finding a new self-care protocol.

We know that self-care is working when, afterwards, we feel loving, kind and full of gentle energy emanating from our own being.

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Relephant Read:

5-Minute, Easy Self-Care Choices for Daily Rejuvenation.

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Author: Ruth Lera

Editor: Toby Israel

Image: Benjamin Combs/Unsplash

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