Telling Tales | The one with self care and aubergine emojis (snigger)
Self care. Two fairly innocent words. And two words that I’ve seen popping up in my little bubble of the internet with increasing regularity.
Yet whenever I see them together I snigger.
Inside every grown man there’s an adolescent boy waiting to break free at any given moment.
Self care only means one thing right?!? (🍆👀😱)
At least that’s where my head goes. (My mother reads these. Sorry Mum.)
But (aubergine emojis aside) self care is something we could all do better. It’s something I’m trying to be much more conscious of than I have been before and, while I’m far from perfect at it, here are some of the things that have been helping me:
1. ROMWOD. I’m nearly two weeks into ROMWOD, a website that has daily videos of stretching routines designed to optimise your range of motion. I’m about as flexible as a brick so these have been a challenge but I’ve found I’ve really enjoyed taking 20 minutes each day to stretch and breathe.
2. Epsom Salts. I love hitting the steam room and the sauna after training but they are still closed (sob). As a result, I’ve found myself taking a lot more baths. And a few cups of Epsom salt in them are a game changer. Great for recovery, for soothing tired muscles, and for boosting magnesium levels (a good thing apparently), these can be bought in bulk from Amazon and are great value for money. Light a couple of candles, add a few drops of your favourite essential oil in, and you’re away. Dreamy scenes.
3. Supplements. Supplementation covers all kinds of different areas and while I love a protein shake and a pre-workout, there’s a big rise at present in products from the supplement industry designed to support mental health and cognitive function. Two in particular I’ve tried and love are SupportMax Neuro from Strom Sports Nutrition (their whole range is incredible) and the aptly titled Brain Gains. Highly recommend both of them.
4. Seeing a chiropractor. Big love to the brilliant Simon Finemore who has been fixing me for a good few years now. Seeing a chiro is so much more than simply fixing a bad back. I think the best way of describing a good adjustment is like all of a sudden having the lights turned up to 100% brightness when you hadn’t even realised they’d been dimmed. For me, all of a sudden the fog I didn’t know was there suddenly lifts. Simon is based in Falmouth for any friends who are local. London friends - check out the brilliant Chiro.London.
5. Moving, exercising, laughing, eating real food. The absolute basics. But we forget to do them so often. Move frequently. Get your heart rate up when you can (yes, even if it’s the sniggering kind of self care), and don’t take everything too seriously (especially now when it seems everyone has a default setting of angry / outraged). One of my biggest laughs this week came from this video of a doctor being interviewed on the BBC only to be interrupted by her daughter. As for food, this weekend’s food odyssey is going to involve cooking up this collaboration between Selin Kiazim and Phillip Warrens butchers. I’ll share the results next week!
I also finished the #25pushupchallenge this week: 25 push ups every day for 25 days to raise awareness of mental health and suicide. You can see the last set - with me dressed up as a princess as per my daughter’s request - here.
As I said in the Facebook post accompanying this - there's been times in my life where I've been in very dark places. Luckily, I had people around me who supported me, loved me, and guided me in the right direction to find professional help.
Those first steps are really hard to take. But they get easier. And the help I got was a game changer in the way I approached and looked after my own mental health - I couldn't be more grateful for those who gave me a shoulder to lean on and cry on when I needed it.
If you're struggling, no matter how trivial it might seem, there are people (friends or professionals) who can probably help. Please don't ever feel like you can't ask or your problems aren't worth someone else's time - you'll be amazed at the massive difference tiny steps can make.
Enjoy the weekend and if you’ve got any top self-care tips please do share them!
TT x