Like bank accounts, we have a self-care balance that needs to be continuously monitored and tended to!

The Self-Care Bank

Your self-care bank works like a financial bank account, the only difference is the inability to easily track your balance!

When you surround yourself daily with enough support, care and positive interactions, your self-care bank balance flourishes. You can feel regulated, relaxed, and more confident finding the relationships around you begin to improve. When your self-care bank is full, you feel capable of managing challenges or curve balls that come your way.

However, when you start to get too low or overwhelmed, and the challenges of life seem too much, you may notice changes in your physiology. If stress and exhaustion overtake your state of mind on a continuous basis, this is when you may begin to feel overwhelmed and burnout.

Finding the Right Balance

Like your financial bank, for you to remain balanced and not go into deficit it is important to follow a budget that works for you. To maintain adequate fulfilment and avoid burnout, you can incorporate regular support, as well as calm and positive experiences into your daily habits. What differs between our self-care vs. a financial bank is that one supportive or positive action does not transcend a stressful experience, whereas a bank would balance out a deficit simply by depositing that exact amount. You need supportive and positive experiences to outweigh one stressful or negative experience. Therefore, to keep on top of your self-care bank, you need to make the time to deposit more than you withdraw.

What does it look like to make deposits into your self-care bank? If you think you are in a deficit, or just want to make sure you’ve got adequate care in the bank, here are a few ways you can adequately incorporate self-care habits into your weekly or daily routine.

• Go for a simple nature walk or take a stroll in your favourite garden.
• Use your inhale/exhale breathing techniques to assist you in letting off steam.
• Offer yourself kind and caring self-talk, often.
• Keep a special and kind intention or statement on your fridge or office wall.
• Treat yourself to a gift, something that you have been wanting and will bring joy to you every time you see/use it.
• Compliment yourself. When you pay yourself a compliment, you increase the value you place on yourself.
• Look for what you did well today and celebrate the accomplishment.
• Take time to be with your dog, your cat, your horses, or your special animal-friends while you intentionally support yourself to be present in the moment of connection.
• Smell the plants in your garden and appreciate the love, care and effort you put into it every day.
• Look for your local wildlife (magpie, wallabies etc), notice their behaviour, and wish them a safe day!
• Next time you visit the ocean, notice all the shades of blue, green, and grey blending together, see what you discover!
• Cook a nutritionally rich, plant-based meal, and enjoy eating it with your loved ones.
• Take a walk in the local forest and smell all of the natural essential oils and scents of nature!
• Pause, and take delight at the small things…the moments that make you smile.
• Remind yourself what you really appreciate about being alive!

Finding ways to fill your self-care bank each day can help ensure that the stress and difficulties in life will not overwhelm you. You will find that you are much more capable of being able to weather the difficult times better, feel more resilient, and on track for living a fulfilled life.