Today is Self Care Sunday and I'm going to share with you ten of my personal self care tips that keep me balanced, grounded and help me maintain a healthy mental space.
MASK - I like to put on a clay mask one to two times a week. I usually use a bentonite clay mask that tightens pores and removes excess oil and dirt. I wanted to try something different for a change so I've been using a green tea clay mask.
PEDICURE - I get a pedicure every six weeks. I won't leave home if my toes aren't done. It's really that serious for me.
HOT SHOWERS - Taking a relaxing, steamy hot shower every 24 - 48 hours is a consistent part of my self care routine. This soap looks ugly but it smells soooooo good and I love to shower with it.
COOKING - I love to cook for myself and others. Cooking myself a delicious meal like BBQ beef ribs, homemade macaroni and cheese and collard greens is really self care. I've worked in restaurants before for many years and if you knew how many people dig up their butt, dig in their nose, cough, sneeze and then cook your food without washing their hands then you would never want to eat out ever again. Even upscale, five star restaurants have rodents, roaches and don't follow correct health code procedures and requirements for storing meat and dairy products. Cooking is a basic survival skill that both men and women should know. No one will always be around to feed you. Cooking for myself is the ultimate self care.
NATURE - I love being outside in nature and taking walks. That's one thing that I loved about growing up in North Carolina. We used to play outside all day, jumping the creek, catching fireflies and eating honeysuckles. I had deer, raccoons, coyotes and foxes in my back yard. I love being around trees and foliage and near a lake, pond or stream and hearing owls, crickets, frogs and the smell of fresh unpolluted air. I feel the most at peace when I'm around nature.
LEARNING - I love to read, learn new things, study and take notes about something that I'm passionate about. Reading is FUNdaMental. I'm forever a student and always willing to gain knowledge and learn valuable information that may benefit me.
CREATIVITY - I love photography and I've been doing all of my own photography since the pandemic. I find the locations, style myself, do my own makeup and capture the shot using my camera's self timer placed on my tripod. Using self timer is self care. During the pandemic, I turned my living room into a photo studio so I could do photoshoots whenever I wanted with different backdrops, some of which I designed and customized myself. I'm glad I learned how to do my own photoshoots. It really saves me a lot of time and money. Doing fun, creative, artistic things like writing poetry and my own script, dyeing a garment with natural botanical dye, going to the fabric store, painting, choreographing a dance routine and creative directing my own photoshoots makes me very happy. Seeing an idea come to life is very fulfilling. I love being creative and coming up with original ideas in all that I do.
STAYING FOCUSED - Nowadays I spend a lot less time on social media and more time focusing on my personal growth, goals, and interacting with real people, real friends, colleagues and people that matter in the real world. Ignoring negativity and sublimals on social media from strangers and people behind fake accounts that don't even know me personally or have enough courage to address me directly and face to face is the highest form of self care.
If it ain't directed then it ain't respected. Protect your peace at all costs. I'm way too busy focusing on new ideas, the important people and things that matter, and appreciating all the positive, supportive, inspiring and uplifting people in my life and opportunities that I've been blessed with to be distracted by negativity and bitter people from the past that are really just mad at themselves for being stupid. Life is too short to entertain immature miserable clowns and narcissistic sociopaths on an app that are delusional and clearly obsessed with me. Ignoring stalkers for the rest of your life while they waste their time trying to get your attention is self care. Let them rest in pieces in your inbox asking you the same stupid questions over and over while awaiting a response that they'll never get. If you have to block 47 people in one day, deactivate all of your social media accounts and take an extended to permanent social media break to protect your peace and sanity and stay focused then by all means do it. Protecting yourself from negativity, evil eye energy and distractions is top tier self care. I shall forever remain a poised and peaceful unbothered Queen. Blocked Lives Don't Matter.
DRIVING - I love to drive on the highway in the HOV lane. I know good and dang well I'm not supposed to but the way my rebelliousness is set up, I do it anyway and no one ever stops me. I've had my driver's license since 2005 and I'm grateful that I've never had a car accident. I'm a very safe and cautious driver. I rather drive than be driven. I love being in complete control of my life, destination and how I get there. On this particular day, I was headed to Tyler Perry Studios for Black Panther 2 wardrobe fitting. Traffic, what's that? I'll always jump in the HOV lane and hit the gas. Outta my way! Driving in the HOV lane to dodge traffic is self care.
NATURAL BEAUTY - Embracing my natural beauty is self care for my overall self esteem. I rarely wear makeup. I hate makeup honestly and I only wear it when I'm on screen or doing a photoshoot. I was kinda a tomboy growing up and didn't get into makeup until about eight years ago. Background actors have to do their own makeup so I've gotten better with it over the years. I don't wear fake lashes or fake nails. I can count on one hand the number of times I've worn fake eyelashes. My natural eyelashes are long so I don't like wearing fake ones. I wasn't always as confident in myself as I am now. I've had severe acne and excessively oily skin since I was twelve years old and have large pores and some acne scars as a result of it. I always thought makeup made my acne ten times worse by clogging my pores and causing more breakouts, that's why I never liked wearing it. I don't think makeup is meant to be worn every single day. Your skin needs a break to breathe at some point. It took years for me to love and accept myself how I am including my flaws. Once I realized that without makeup, filters, Photoshop, fake lashes, wigs and plastic surgery, all women have imperfections and things about themselves that they're insecure about then I became confident in myself while owning and loving my natural beauty. People always tell me now that I have pretty skin and think I'm ten years younger than what I am. At 37 years old, I've never had a surgery. I'm not shaming anyone for having surgical procedures, I'm just speaking about my own personal preference. I'm honestly afraid of surgery. The idea of being put to sleep and cut on just doesn't rest well with my spirit. I've seen too many plastic surgery horror stories, like some people end up looking worse than they did before they got the surgery. I've always been naturally curvaceous. If you're insecure about yourself and have low self-esteem, surgery won't fix anything. You'll always find something about yourself that you think you need to change and keep getting more and more plastic surgery. Loving my natural curves and beauty is self care. If it's not broke, I'm not fixing or changing it.
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