9 Ideas for Simple Self-Care from Home

It seems that everyone is talking about ‘self-care’ these days. Our weeks are busy, our decisions seemingly endless, and life can feel incredibly overwhelming. It’s easy to forget to take time out and look after ourselves in amongst all that stress – especially when part of the overwhelm is people telling us we need to be making time for self-care as well!

WHAT IS SELF CARE?

There are all sorts of definitions floating around, but here’s my take:

Self-care is an intentional activity carried out by a person to look after their own mental, emotional and/or physical health. It can improve our mood, reduce stress and anxiety, increase energy levels and help improve our relationships.

Good self-care is enjoyable, something that refuels us rather than feeling like a chore. For me, this is key. There’s no ‘should’ for good self-care, and probably no ‘all you need to do is…’. Self-care looks different for everyone, depending on who we are, but also what our current circumstances look like. There really is no one-size-fits-all approach.

With that in mind, here are some ideas for different self-care activities you could try next time you’re feeling overwhelmed. And because one size does not fit all, I asked @novelteabookclub followers for their top self-care tips as well - many of these ideas came up frequently!

NINE IDEAS

1. Take time out 

Sometimes self-care is as simple as taking a break. If a work task feels frustrating, a five minute break to make a cup of tea or chat to a colleague can work wonders. If social media becomes overwhelming, a screen-free day could be just what you need. And there’s a reason that parents the world over value locks on bathroom doors (to keep the kids out, not to lock them in!).

Recognising that a situation is causing a downward spiral in your mood and making an opportunity to take a break are two great first steps to self-care.

2. Change up your environment

They say a change is as good as a holiday, and it can definitely be a very simple form of self-care. Try changing any aspect of your environment to see if it helps. If your house is noisy and chaotic, try taking some time in the evening (with earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones if needed) to sit in silence and stillness. Sick of working at the dining table? Try moving to the kitchen bench for an hour or two. Print a few nice photos to decorate your walls. Open some windows. Consider all five senses and what small things you could change, even temporarily.

3. Movement

If you’re anything like me, you’re doing a lot of sitting at the moment. A great way to change things up is to find an enjoyable way to incorporate more movement into your day. A walk, a short yoga routine, a mini dance party while the kettle boils for your tea – whatever works! 

4. Get creative

Creativity comes in many shapes and forms, but it can be a wonderful activity for self-care. Baking, crafting, drawing, colouring, gardening, photgraphy, writing - take your pick! Art and creativity encourage self-expression and self-knowledge, as we consider what colours, styles or flavours we might enjoy. It can encourage a different perspective, give us a low-risk way to try something new, and often produces something beautiful (or delicious) at the end. You might even surprise yourself and discover a hidden talent!

5. Grab a book and make a cup of tea

This is (unsurprisingly), my favourite form of self-care. I love escaping into the different world of a good book, or enjoying the beautiful words and feelings of a piece of poetry. When things around me are uncertain, I find the predictability and neat endings of genres such as mystery and romance to be particularly soothing.

The act of making a drinking a cup of tea is also incredibly important to me. You can read more about tea and mindfulness here.

6. Meditation/MINDFULNESS

Following on from tea and mindfulness, you might find that other forms of meditation and mindfulness are helpful acts of self-care for you. Again, there are a lot of different options out there, and so it might take a little bit of trial and error to figure out what works for you, but you can start small and move on if it doesn’t feel right. Some quick ideas:

• Find a short poem that you enjoy, and read through it several times, fast and slow, allowing your thoughts to be captured by whatever stands out - a particular word, a phrase, an idea

• Choose a daily task and try completing it ‘mindfully’. For example, if you’re hanging out the washing, you can focus on identifying the sounds and smells around you, or enjoying the feel of the cool breeze and sunshine on your face.

• Download a mindfulness and meditation app such as Smiling Mind, which has lots of free exercises to choose from. They suggest just 10 minutes per day to start with.

7. Something indulgent and then something productive

This idea comes straight from our Instagram community.

@danaew17 says: “First I indulge myself (Netflix, book, movie, coffee shop) then I do something productive that prepares me for the week ahead (gardening, tidy the house, washing my hair, making healthy snacks). Rinse and repeat in however much time you have. I think self care should involve both enjoyable things, and things that set you up to have a good week.”

I love this, and I am definitely going to be trying it out this week!

8. Get outside

Even when we’re staying at home, perhaps especially when we’re staying at home, getting outside is a wonderful act of self-care. Whether it’s some gardening in your backyard, a walk around the block if you are able, or just walking out to check your mail, the fresh air, movement, and change of environment will all help!

9. Rest

Is good for everyone! Again, it comes in many forms and we all need different amounts, but perhaps try going to bed half an hour earlier tonight. Experiment with leaving your phone out of easy reach or even, shock horror, outside of your bedroom!

Perhaps rest for you means an extra nap during the day, or using your lunch break to sit quietly away from your work station, or choosing to put aside your to-do list for a day and not feel guilty about it.

Our bodies and our minds need time to stop and recharge, and we will usually feel much better for it afterward.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

What is your favourite act of self-care? Do you have more tips and ideas? Why not send me an email or a DM on Instagram - I always love to chat.

Review - How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

A Guest Review by @aliterarysupper

The story of teenagers left to fend for themselves during wartime is not a new tale. It’s been explored many times. From the wonderful Tomorrow series from John Marsden, the classic The Camomile Lawn and even within the time-honoured film that is Red Dawn. How I Live Now from Meg Rosoff adds a fresh perspective to the traditional archetype, explored through the eyes of the protagonist of the film, Daisy.

Unlike the other stories that touch within this setting, the story does not follow a need to band the teenagers together to fight back against those they perceive as invaders. Instead it focuses purely on the mindset of Daisy, winding through the many (many) typical emotions that comes with the teenage years. Meg Rosoff has explored these through the lens of war and survival, not once neglecting the emotive state that befalls a teenager, but instead burrowing into how they would sit within an environment so threatening and unfamiliar.

The parallels within the book are sharp - the scene is set within an picturesque English countryside, an American teenager thrown into an unfamiliar landscape, learning how to tend to a farm and survive. There’s almost an Enid Blyton-esque feel to this story at the beginning, with one of the English children talking to animals, and another foraging for wild foods. This is where that familiarity stops however. As the reader and Daisy begin to accept and enjoy this new life, everything abruptly changes.

The themes within the book, outside of the war, are surprisingly strong. With underage sex, sudden deaths and the need for children to grow quickly woven within the words. It’s a book that you may find yourself stepping back to at times - when things in the world seem unsure - as a spot of comfort can be wrung from its pages. 

Don’t forget to check out the Past Parcels section of the shop to see if we have any ‘Survival’ parcels left in stock.

The Beginner’s Guide to Tea and Mindfulness

You have probably heard that it’s incredibly healthy to try to get some mindfulness into every day. Mindfulness is wonderful for physical and mental health, can increase your brain power and focus, and is also a lovely, simple form of self-care.

But knowing that you should be including a mindful practice in your daily routine may not be as simple as it sounds, right? I mean, who has time for that?

A good place to start - Guided mindfulness apps

You can set structured times every day for guided mindfulness – there are some great apps for this including Smiling Mind, Calm, and Mindfulness. Using an app like these, you just set one or two regular times aside every day for mindfulness, turn on the app and follow what it says.

This works really well first thing in the morning or last thing at night before sleep, in the car on the way to get groceries, or while walking around the block.

I totally get that life is busy and unpredictable, and even committing to a set time every day to listen to the app might be expecting a bit much. We can all have the best of intentions, but if your plan for mindfulness practice just isn’t achievable then it won’t happen.

Let’s start with something even easier – something that it’s likely you already do every day – having a cup of tea.

You can very simply turn one of your cups of tea into a mini mindfulness session, and it won’t take any longer than you would’ve spent drinking it anyway.

Tea and Mindfulness

Mindfulness doesn’t have to be about adding extra things into your already hectic day. It is about being totally present in the moment when you are doing something, and you can do this with activities that are already a part of your day like eating, driving, doing the dishes or having a much-needed cuppa.

Being mindful in the moment means quieting your brain, and paying attention to observing your thoughts, senses, and experience of the world right at this time. You actively try to draw your mind away from worrying about other things or planning for the next task of your day and just focus on right now.

Not only delicious, luxurious and nurturing, but tea is also really healthy for you as well – so it makes perfect sense to turn having a simple cup of tea as a gorgeous mindfulness practice.

Getting started

Loose leaf tea is the best for mindfulness. Not only does it taste and smell far better than bagged tea, but it is also better for the environment as well. The extra steps taken to make leaf tea is perfect for a mindful moment.

Choose the time (or times) of day that you would most benefit from a mindful cup of tea. It might be first thing in the morning before anyone else is up, to help you set your mind for the day ahead. It might be mid-afternoon to recharge your batteries and refocus your brain,  or just before bed to help you process your thoughts and wind down from the day.

You will need a small teapot or a tea infuser, and your favourite cup and saucer or that big comfy mug that fits perfectly in your hands. Choose special items, as this is a special moment.

Choose your selected blend of tea. This is a good excuse to explore new varieties that you haven’t tried before as you will be concentrating fully on your sensory experience. (Ok, now I’m going to have to go and make a pot of tea to enjoy while finishing this article…)

There are many different elements to focus on as you make tea mindfully, but here’s what I’ve found helpful in my tea & mindfulness practice:

1. Listen to the rush of water as you fill the kettle (then don’t forget to turn it on!)

2. Add the required amount of loose leaf tea to your teapot or infuser. Focus on the scent and the colour, and the mix of botanicals if it’s a blend

3. Take some steady breaths as the kettle boils.

4. As you pour the hot water over your tea, watch the steam rise and the water swirl. Notice the changes. The colour of the water deepens, the tea leaves expand. Does the aroma of your tea change?

5. Settle yourself comfortably to drink your tea. Feel the warmth and curve of your cup. Is it silky or matte, textured or smooth?

6. Enjoy the taste and the aroma of each sip. Perhaps let it sit on your tongue for a moment and pick out the flavours.

7. As you sit and drink, consider the feelings that your cup of tea is invoking. Are you feeling calmer, more relaxed, more energised?

Notice how all the different sensory feelings in your body are generated to enjoy and truly experience the tea? Focusing one at a time on each of the senses is what makes the practice mindful – bringing your thoughts from the past or future or wherever else they want to go, and into this moment in time.

It isn’t necessary but you can totally add a cookie or a couple of squares of chocolate to the experience, and enjoy these mindfully as well.

And that’s It

I have found this simple mindfulness practice so helpful, particularly in the past month or so. It has helped me to focus on the here-and-now, rather than worrying helplessly about the future, and has also helped me to appreciate my tea collection more than ever! Please feel free to experiment and adapt to suit your needs.

PS. If you’d like to find some new teas to try as you explore mindfulness, why not pick up a couple of mystery samples while you’re here?

Review - Three Tales from the Arabian Nights

I feel the need to quote Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes to begin this review: “I bet you think you know this story. You don’t, the real one’s much more gory…”

Like so many other myths, legends and fairytales, you may not be surprised to learn that the ‘original’ stories from Arabian Nights are tad more violent than the Disney-fied versions we’ve come to know and perhaps love.

This edition includes three of the stories commonly associated with the 1001 Arabian Nights collection. On a related note, it’s worth looking into the history of the collection - not quite as straightforward as Western cannon might have us believe…

We begin with the narrative framing of Shahrazad, spinning stories to stay alive for 1001 nights. The three stories included in this pocket sized version are then “Judar and his Brothers”, “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” and “Ma’rus the Cobbler”. All three stories are unashamedly violent, sometimes erotic and set against the rich backdrop of the Middle East and its cultures and folklore. There’s magic, murder, treasure, likeable and unlikeable heroes, adventure and horror. Everything you’d look for in a classic fairytale, really!

What most caught my attention though, was Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. As I read the familiar tale, it struck me that really, Ali Baba isn’t the hero of this story. The slave girl Marjana/Morgiana (depending on how her name is translated from Arabic), does all of the thinking and the hard work, and yet she barely gets any of the credit.

And so I was pretty excited to feature her in the Classic parcels - how cute is that magnetic bookmark?!

I highly recommend you check out these tales, and also spend a little bit of time researching the history of the ‘translation’ and collection of the stories in the first place. I found this book a fascinating and educational classic to feature in a NovelTea Book Club parcel!

Don’t forget to check out the Past Parcels section of the shop to see if we have any ‘Shahrazad’ parcels left in stock.