People are busy. Most are navigating a hectic homelife and a demanding job. Taking care of yourself is often the first thing that suffers.
You can’t perform well in any aspect of your life if you ignore your own mental, emotional and physical health. Here are a few tips to help you maintain your self-care while meeting the demands of a busy life.
Prepare Meals Ahead of Time
While fast food, processed meals and ordering in are life savers in a pinch, your health suffers when these solutions become your go-to choice for meals. Learning how to embrace healthy eating on the go is essential for a busy person.
Batch cooking can provide a week of healthy lunches or dinners from one day’s effort. If you have a slow cooker or pressure cooker, that makes it even easier. With these tools, you can produce large batches of soups, roasts, and one-pot meals that you can separate into single servings, pop into the freezer and then reheat in mere seconds.
Adopting the habit of having nutritious smoothies for breakfast can get you out the door with a healthy meal in hand in minutes. You can prep the fruit and veggies for multiple smoothies at one time and store them in the refrigerator. Just dump your serving of fruit and vegetables in a blender, pour in the liquid of your choice, add a scoop of quality protein powder and blend.
In that same vein, you can prep the ingredients for several great salads at one go and store them in servings in the fridge. The meat from a single cooked rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store can be shredded, separated and frozen. All you have to do in the morning is grab a container of greens and a package of protein and you have the makings for a healthy lunch.
Use Your Commute
No one likes a long commute, especially during rush hour, but it is an unavoidable part of many people’s day. Instead of honking your horn and stressing out, use the next traffic jam to enrich your mind.
A subscription to an audio-book streaming service could put a world of literature at your fingertips. Regardless of your interests, you can find countless podcasts to educate yourself, broaden your perspective or just make you laugh. What about popping in a CD and learning that foreign language that you always wanted to master? By using your commute to learn, grow, relax or have fun, you’ll arrive at work just as quickly as before, but a lot more relaxed.
Exercise in Increments
Everyone knows that regular exercise is an important component of overall health, but fitting a 30-minute workout into a busy day can seem impossible. The health experts at Healthline say that mini-workouts of 5 or 10 minutes each throughout the day can be just as effective.
There’s no need to rush off to the gym after work when you want to be spending time with your kids or your partner. You can squeeze in 10 minutes of strength work in the morning, a brisk walk during your lunch hour and a short yoga routine before bed.
Practice Mindfulness
“Multitasking” has been a buzzword in the working world for a while now, but some experts are now questioning its effectiveness. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic report that multitasking actually reduces productivity and leads to lower quality of work.
The basic premise of mindfulness is to be fully present and focused on the one thing you are doing at the moment. It is a practice that can simultaneously increase effectiveness, reduce stress and strengthen relationships. Practicing mindfulness is easily learned and can be done at any time and in any situation.
Keeping yourself healthy and happy is an important part of your success, both at home and in the workplace. The busier your life becomes, the more crucial it is to eat well, exercise, reduce stress and find time for things that bring you joy.
