OMG Digital Magazine OMG Issue 270 3rd August 2017 | Page 6

OMG Digital Magazine | 270 | Thursday 3 August 2017 • PAGE 6
SoulFood
How to Make Your Saturdays a
Time for Self-Care
By Emma Haak
If you want to get in on the self-care trend, it would
help to know exactly what qualifies as a self-care ac-
tivity. "It's something you really want—not have—to
do," says Jennifer Louden, one of the early proponents
of self-care and author of The Woman's Comfort Book.
Sounds great, but still, how exactly do you go about
doing it?
Especially for the wound-tight and the type A's among
us (no judgments—we're in that category, too), it al-
most seems too vague and willy-nilly. That's why we
asked Louden for concrete tips on how to build a Sat-
urday self-care routine that leaves you feeling like your
mind and body's needs have been taken care of, even
if it's just for a day.
Tip 1: Get Something Done Before You Start
Cross one thing off your to-do list that makes you feel
accomplished, so the re's no self-imposed guilt about
relaxing afterwards. "Choose a task or activity that's
deeply satisfying, even if you have to force yourself to
start," says Louden. Hers is a long run, and while exer-
cise is an obvious choice here, yours could be anything
from tackling that one work task that would otherwise
hang over the whole weekend to finally taking those
bags of clothes to Goodwill.
Tip 2: Ease Into It
Having a transition step between the accomplishment
of the morning and your self-care time will help quiet
your mind, so you can really listen to yourself when
you're deciding what activities you want to do, says
Louden, who notes that many people skip this step.
She recommends something that's physically and
mentally relaxing, like sitting on a park bench, taking a
bath or cuing up a guided meditation on your phone.
other episode after the first one ends. Because watch-
ing The Crown isn't a bad idea, but it's probably not
how you really want to spend your whole day.
Tip 3: Ask Yourself This Question
"What do I really want to do right now?" That's the
jump-start to your self-care. On Friday afternoon, you
might be craving time to read your favorite book, but
come Saturday, your dream activity might be total-
ly different. So, rather than having a mental plan of
what self-care activities you want to do, play it by ear.
It could even be an activity that may seem like work.
If you glance at your bookshelf and think about how
great it would look if you decluttered and organized it,
go for it. "But the second it starts to feel like a chore, let
yourself stop and leave the books a mess," says Loud-
en.
Tip 4: Keep Asking Yourself That Question
Continuously asking yourself what you really want to
be doing right now will prevent you from relying on
what Louden calls "shadow comforts"—activities you
fall back on when you just don't want to deal with life,
not ones that actually bring you a sense of happiness.
Binge watching is a big shadow comfort for most peo-
ple, says Louden. If you're dying to see a specific show,
do it, but ask yourself if you really want to watch an-
Tip 5: Give Your Self-Care Some Structure
The easiest way to do this is to put a time limit on your
self-care. Totally new to the idea and not sure how
much you'll enjoy it? Give yourself one hour. If, at the
end, you're still craving more me-time, do another
hour. After a few weekends of adding time, you may
find that you're happiest when you have an entire af-
ternoon and evening to do what you please, or that
one to two hours is the sweet spot.