emmasguidetoselfcare

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Sleep care

I know everybody loves a good sleep, and I'm definitely one of those people. I try my best to get 8 hours of sleep, but of course, that's not always possible. I was never much of a napper, but since being in college, I think my favorite thing of the day is a nap, and I try to get on in every day if I have time to, and it always makes up for it if I don't get enough sleep the night before. I tend to go to bed really late, and I need to be better about it, but I think ideally, I would try to go to sleep around 11 or 12 and get my day started around 8 or 9 the next morning, and hopefully get a nap in. I've never struggled with sleeping, but here and there, I think melatonin is always helpful and definitely helps with keeping you in a deep sleep if that's what you need. The most important thing about sleep is being comfortable where you are, and I think your bed should be a sacred place for everyone, and make it exactly how you want.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Ways to stay healthy

I find it very hard to find things I enjoy doing that are also a good way for me to stay healthy, but I do love to stay occupied. I do love going to the gym and doing things like that but also recently I have joined a hot Worx gym which has saunas all in them and you can do workouts like Pilates and yoga that gets all the sweat out and keeps your body moving, which is now one of my favorite things to do. I also think that signing up for workout classes is very fun because it's with other people for the social aspect, and you can pick and choose the types of workouts you enjoy. I also think that one of the best things is to just walk, which I enjoy doing with friends or my dog in the morning to start my day with my body moving, and it's fun to find good places to go to and get a new perspective on a new place.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Snack Care

I'm a big snacker, and I've always struggled, even when I was a kid, with not finding the healthiest snacks I could. When I get bored, I want to eat, and a lot of the time I will crave something sweet or salty and will find something that is not the healthiest option when its so easy to find a substitute that tastes the same and will satisfy that craving for me. As I've gotten older, I have found those said snacks and I try my best to choose those over anything else. I think the best snacks are the ones with high protein in them because they keep you fuller for longer. The best snacks for me are something like a protein bar or a chomp or even a banana on the go and while it may not be my first choice its always important to pick something better for you rather than something that may just make you feel worse later on and could ruin the meal you would be having not long after the snack.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Gym care

I do not regularly go to the gym, and I really wish I did. I used to be, and when I did, I loved it, and it made my body feel great, but since starting college, I just haven't found the time or motivation to get up and go to the gym. But from my experience I used to play soccer and during the offseason I still wanted to stay active, so I made my self-go to the gym or go on a run and just find an activity to do to keep my body moving so when it came around for soccer season to start, I was still mainly in shape. I would typically go to the gym 5 days a week and would start with lifting weights, where I would do a leg day (focused on quads and calves), followed by a cardio day to make sure my body had recovery time. An arm day, then again followed by cardio, and the fifth day I would end with another leg day, but more hamstring and glute focused. I chose one day out of the weekend to have a complete break, and the other day I would find time to go on a walk and keep my body moving, because I think it is very important to do that.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Music care

I think that for me one of the most easing and calming things to do is to listen to music. It depends on the day but I have playlists for every mood I am in and I think music is a good way for anyone to calm some nerves going on or something to have on in the background to motivate whatever activity it is you are doing and one of the most important things it is a huge serotonin boost and is one of my favorite things to do with my friends is to listen to music in the car. I think music is a healer for so many different things, and as long as you have the right list of songs and playlists, you enjoy nothing can beat a good walk to class with your headphones on and good music.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Phone Care

People of are age are very likely to be on our phones all day long for the most random things. For myself, my average hours a day are about 8, and that's very high. When I'm sitting in my room and I have nothing else to do, I just get on my phone and play games or get on social media. When I have the option of reading a book or doing homework, or just getting out and finding something to do other than being on my phone. I recommend that even me to start by trying to not start your day on your phone. when I wake up, I will be making it a goal to not look at my phone until I'm ready for the day. If I don't do this, I find myself staying in bed for longer than I should. I also will try to not be on it when I go to bed at night, when I'm out of the shower and ready for bed and finally get in the bed is when I will put my phone down and pick up a book or watch a show and not fall asleep on my phone looking at social media like I do all the time now. I think it's very important to have no screen time and focus on things I actually should be focusing on, like spending time with friends, doing homework, and spending time on myself.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Food Care- Dinner

Dinner tends to be the meal that is the most different for people. You get off of work and plan dinner with your friends, family, or significant other, and it's the meal in your day that typically will include someone else, and a lot of the time isn't at home. With that being said it's hard to get all parts of nutrition in at once. It's very important when you go out to dinner to try and incorporate as much as you can in the dish you choose and making dinner at home goes the same way that you yourself can incorporate what you want into your meal. It's also very important to eat dinner at a good time because a lot of research says to eat dinner before 7-8 o'clock in order to make sure your food fully digests for the day before getting into bed for the night.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Food Care- Lunch

A lot of the time this is a meal where everyone is busy and may not have a bunch of time to get a full meal in but it's very important to do so. When I have work, I make it a point to eat a meal during my break. On other days I try to eat lunch around 5 hours after I eat breakfast, and I try to include every type of food I can including some form of protein, fruit, and carbs/grains to be able to get all the nutrition I need. I also make it a big point to drink water all day long. Lunch I believe is an important meal to try and get your healthy meal in for the day because dinner a lot of the times is dependent on other people being involved and you may not be able to get every nutrition that you can.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Food Care- Breakfast

As I was growing up, I never was the biggest fan of breakfast, and if I ate anything it was something small like a granola bar. Being at college kind of changed that for me. During the first semester I had early classes that I had time to get breakfast after and it still to this day is my favorite meal of the day. Breakfast is a very easy meal to get all of your nutrients in in one sitting. I would always get a big scoop of eggs with some eggs on top of course and some sausage which will give you a lot of protein. I also would add whatever fruit they had for the day which all have vitamins loaded in. Every once in a while, I will add a sweet treat if they have them which normally would be a cinnamon roll but now always! Breakfast like everyone says, is the most important meal of the day so I agree and think that everyone should incorporate some sort of breakfast in their daily routine because it will start you off strong for the day with some energy.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Shaving care

As a female, one of the most important things for me is my shaving routine. When I got to the age of needing to shave my legs my mom always told me to always shave every other day and I would like to think I've done the best with that, that I can do. Every other day when I get in the shower either if that's at night or in the morning I always start with all of my other steps which are washing my hair and my body but when I wash my body a second time I use a loofah to exfoliate my legs and this is good to do before shaving and then once I do that I typically always go in with a shave oil rather than a cream because I find it helps a lot more with razor burn than anything else and also keeps my skin very smooth. Once I finish shaving both legs I try to also exfoliate after to get an even smoother feel but with something more sensitive. Once I get out of the shower, I always put lotion on my freshly shaved legs and try to of course wear pants because I would hate for all my hard work to go down the drain when I get cold, and all my leg hair grows back even faster. In another 2 days, I will do this process all over again.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Nail Care

I tend to get my nails done a lot, just about once a month I get them done and sometimes that puts a lot of stress on them. I try to find about 2 months every year that I can go without having my nails done. I find that this time helps my nails grow back healthy after having them done for so long because most nail salons can't help you with that. I like to do cuticle work and push my cuticles back and cut my nails very regularly, so they aren't breaking and get too long. I like to also use cuticle oil which is also very helpful and helps my cuticles when putting all the chemicals on my nails that the salons do. I love getting my nails done but they definitely do damage my nails and other options are healthier like for example not using acrylic but using builder gel on my natural nails to help grow my natural nails under and keep them strong instead of putting a plastic nail on my real one.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Shower care

One of my favorite things is a good shower after a long day. Every day my shower looks different though, I tend to only wash my hair about 2-3 times a week, shave every other day, and of course, I wash my body and condition my hair every day whether that's in the morning or night, it depends on my schedule. Every day I choose to condition my hair because that will keep it hydrated and easy to maintain for whatever I may have going on the 2 days I have in between washing it. I also find that when I wash my body every day I start with a bar soap that has no scent to it to get that first wash with all of my germs off of me and then I go in with a loofah and another type of body wash, but this one with a scent of my choice, which recently has been method body coconut and rice milk and wash my body in that to also clean my body a second time but get my body to smell good. When I condition my hair I try to do it before I have washed my body so then I can wash off all of the conditioner that gets on my back and shoulders which will help with acne on my back. When I shave my legs I try to shave before I wash my body so I can then exfoliate them after to help with razor bumps. In between all of this, I let a face wash sit on my face and I will wash it off by the end of the shower. I find that this routine helps me so much to take care of my body in the shower!

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Hair care

Growing up you don't put much thought or effort into your hair. My mom just threw my hair up in a ponytail every day and I didn't care what it looked like by the end of the day. Me and my friends would go through phases of wanting to dye our hair or cut it and didn't realize the hair we had at this stage was the healthiest it ever was! Growing up you started to put heat on your hair and wanted to style every day to make it look good and I was the girl who straightened my hair every day for a year or two until I realized how damaging it was for my hair. I had to completely restart the growth of my hair because putting as much heat as I did on it damaged my hair. I began to find a good wash routine that included two washes of shampoo and sitting in the condition for about 5 minutes and this works with whatever shampoo and conditioner. I find that everything works so I've learned the hard way to not spend my money on fancy shampoos and conditioners because the regular Target brand ones work just as well. I also found that putting a leave-in conditioner helped with the dryness of my hair and also the dead ends, which I also pair with oil when my hair is dry. I've also made it a point to go and get my hair trimmed regularly because it gets rid of the unhealthy ends and makes it look better when it's regularly cut.

[emmasguidetoselfcare]

Skin Care

As I was growing up, I knew nothing about my skin and how to take care of it but as I got older, I learned the best things for my skin and how to care for it. I always started with a cleanser but what was hard was finding one that worked perfectly with my type of skin. I tried a few including brands like Cerave and Neutrogena but found that these were not exactly helping my skin which was changing every day. I then found a clean brand at Sephora called Youth to the people that I got as a present and started using it every day, it began to clear my face, and I started seeing big changes with it. When that ran out, I went on to use LaRoche Posay and found that it was one of the best gentle cleansers and worked for my type of skin. I had skin that would break out very often even when washing my face 2 times a day, so I found a more heavy-duty wash called PanOxyl that began to help my skin when having big breakouts. During this time, I began to use other products for example, a daily moisturizer by Byoma, glycolic acid by Ordinary, an exfoliator by Paulas Choice, and a discoloration-correcting serum by Good Molecules. Although sometimes I think that this may be a lot just to take care of my skin, I also know that it works, and if I want to care for my skin in the best way I can it's going to be by using these products every day. I think your skin is one of the most important things to take care of on your body and when your skin is in a good place, your whole mood will lift so I definitely recommend it to someone trying to find the best products for themselves to start experimenting and find that routine that works best for your skin!