Five practices to help prioritise and nurture your ‘self’

This might sound totally obvious and basic but, from a decade plus of coaching, how we support ourselves with positive practices is a topic that comes up with all of my clients and it is something that I consider non-negotiable in my daily routine. Ultimately, it requires you to become highly intentional about how you manage your time and energy.

The challenge is, often in our everyday lives, we have so many commitments that we are juggling, occupying our headspace and using our energy, that we tend to neglect creating the space to connect and to prioritise ourselves. Plus, many of us go through life keeping ourselves really busy. It is like a standard response we have, isn’t it, when someone asks us ‘How are you?’, ‘How’s work?’, ‘How’s life?’… ‘Good… busy!’ But what are we busy doing and is it really all good? Notice I alluded to ‘keeping busy’ because, after all, we are the directors of our lives and our time and unless we are highly conscious and intentional about how we spend our time, this way of being and doing rarely serves our best version.

Believe me, I understand that we all have lots going on. Particularly as a parent, carving out personal time becomes more difficult and actually more conflicting because you want to be with your children and spend time as a family. Time is precious and can feel limited, headspace is less available, not to mention all of the communication and social channels we feel the need to keep up with. Life is demanding. The thing is, if you don’t create space for the things you need, those things, whatever they may be, will not be available to you.

You are a direct reflection of how you are spending your time and energy. And remember, where your time and focus goes, your energy flows; and where your energy flows, that is what grows! As your life is determined by what you focus on and give time to, you may as well make it what you actually want and what is good for you.

Here are five practices to help prioritise and nurture your ‘self’:

1. Carve out space for you. Time to just be – with your thoughts, without pressure or things to do. When we create space, it allows us to connect with our true self and intuition. It allows for creativity and inspiration to flow. It can help us to find the answers to solve our own problems or give us perspective to lessen or remove them, whether this be through meditation, a walk in nature or some quiet time at home. Space enables us to feel connected, beyond our physical self and situations, to something bigger. I promise, not only will you be better for it, so will your nearest and dearest.