I’m gonna assume you have been a giving person and have been living your life out pretty fully. You may feel you’re the only one who sees how much you’ve poured into your life, your loved ones, or your work.

With all that giving, there comes a time when you need to be a little selfish about yourself and your time. Don’t feel guilty about it. Really!

You can’t give what you don’t have.

Just imagine trying to pour a glass of water for a friend, out of an empty pitcher. You can easily end up like that empty pitcher if you don’t take time to care for yourself. There’s no shame in needing to get a refill.

In a recent post I introduced 4 key areas of self-care to pay attention to, if you are going to have the strength to live out the amazing life you have planned for yourself and your loved ones. These self-care areas are mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual self-care.

In this and three coming posts I want to flesh out some of the ideas I listed before. So, let’s look at some great mental self-care ideas.

Mental self-care is about keeping your mind strong and flexible.

Start or get back into a hobby.

Hobbies are great, because they break us out of our routines and engage our mind in different ways, strengthening new parts of our brain which we may have not been using much otherwise. I googled this one and there are so many sights out there full of great ideas for hobbies. That probably goes for the rest of the points as well. You should try it. I’ve compiled a short list to start you thinking about it.

  • Put puzzles together.
  • Build models or miniatures. You can find a lot of sets for this online.
  • Work on a garden. Besides the relaxing work and fun, being in touch with nature is an added benefit to this one.
  • Collect stamps, coins, stones, anything that is interesting and fun for you.
  • Go bird-watching. Being out in nature is an extra benefit in this one as well.

Learn a new skill, especially one that is a little out of your comfort zone, to stretch your current capacity for talent.

You may be more comfortable with things you know or are familiar with, but remember there was a time you had learn those things too. Why not try a new skill?

  • Painting could be a hobby if your already good at it, but if not it could be a stimulating skill to learn.
  • Touch typing could be a skill to benefit you in the computer age.
  • Playing an instrument can be a lot fun, especially with friends.
  • Speaking a new language does a lot for exercising your brain. It also opens and entire new part of the world to your life and work.

When it comes to learning a new skill, I love the way Josh Kaufman breaks it down his book The First 20 Hours. Check out this short video where he explains the basic principles at a TEDx talk. I was surprised at how well he learned to play the ukulele in just 20 hours. (Read The First 20 Hours)

Read a great book, perhaps even an autobiography. It’s almost as good as having a coffee with the writer.

As Robin Sharma put it, “Have coffee with Gandhi.” Reading a great book is like having coffee with that person. You’re getting behind their eyes and seeing the world from their perspective. (Read The Greatness Guide)

There are many great books out there and I advise you choose one based on an interest you have. Here’s a list of some that I’ve loved reading in the areas of business, personal development, and fun.

Sign up for a workshop or a class that interest you, inspires you, or grabs your attention.

The great thing about signing up for a class is that helps you with your commitment to learning, if you have a hard time sticking with or following through with something new. Some topics might include:

  • Cooking
  • Dancing
  • Playing an instrument
  • Yoga
  • Business or industry workshop related to you business or that are passionate about

Play board games or card games that are mentally challenging with friends or family.

This needs little explanation. Right? What every you do, find something fun so you’ll look forward to doing again and again. An added benefit to games is the great quality of time you get to spend with others. Some of my favorite are:

  • Boggle
  • Settlers of Catan
  • Scrabble
  • Uno
  • Cashflow (Educational board game)

Use affirmations or success statements to feed your subconscious mind positive images and beliefs to make a part of your reality.

Though there are few different schools of thought in this area, the main thing to remember is that we become what we think about most of the time. If we have thoughts that are not a part of what we are aiming for in life we can and should change them by forming new thought patterns and habits. (Download the free quick guide to using affirmations Get the Results You’ve Always Wanted)

[reminder]Over to you now! What would you add to this post? I’d love to hear some new ideas.[/reminder]