Simple Ways To Take Care Of Yourself

By Carolyn Shields

• Drink a glass of water each morning when you wake up, first thing.
• Make your bed. Admiral William H. McRaven told graduates at the University of Texas, "If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right."
• Find a little daily sacrifice. For me, it's the walk I have to take to my car each morning through the dew or wet grass which always gets my feet wet when I wear sandals or flats.
• Take vitamins.
• Drink less coffee and more tea. Why? It's not just for health reasons, but cutting back could help you financially. By passing on a Keurig a day, you would save roughly 65 cents a day, resulting in $237 a year.
• Pray. And pray big, pray boldly, pray for everything. This season reminds us that faith takes risks. 
• Remove a social media app from your home screen. It one, makes you realize how habitually you go to tap it, and two, makes you pause before you're sucked in. Ween off little by little.
• Light a candle. Katherine Frizoni, the skincare research and development manager for Dove, said in an article by Telegraph: “Our sense of smell is the most evocative sense but it is often overlooked because we rely so much on what we see and what we hear." Aroma and fragrance triggers memories in our olfactory bulb...not to mention the ambiance set by a flicker of light is soothing. 
• Buy yourself flowers. Better yet, assemble a bouquet for yourself. Small boutiques are beautiful, but the cheapest flowers I've ever found have been at Trader Joe's and Produce Junction, two chains that are available across America.
• Move. The winter months are just beginning and now is the time to beat a habit before it forms. Don't slow down just yet! As winter settles in it becomes harder and harder to come out from under the wool, but studies show that just one hour of exercise a week will help prevent depression.