There is one thing you take with you everywhere you go.
Your body.
It stands to reason, then, that having a self-care routine for your body after 60 should be your number one priority.
For many people, it is. Unfortunately, for a great many more, it is not.
With all of the ways we can establish and engage in a self-care routine for our body, why is it such a challenge to not only establish one but consistently maintain it?
In part-one of a two-part article, we’re going to answer that question by starting where all self-care routines begin.
In your mind.
The Foundation
As much as a self-care routine for you body requires some level of physical activity, none of it happens without first processing the thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that run through your mind.
This is why the foundation and #1 thing to start any self-care routine for your body, is loving yourself just as you are.
But how do you engage in a self-care routine for your body if you were not taught how to love yourself?
For example, millions of people over 60 walk daily, eat healthy food and take high-quality supplements. This would appear to be the basis for a self-care routine.
Yet, for many of those who engage in these activities, they remain unhappy, unfulfilled, and longing for something better.
The main reason for this is an unconscious belief in not being enough.
You Are Enough
Whether you are already engaging in your own self-care routine for your body or want to start one, here’s where I suggest you begin.
Find a quiet place to sit with your journal and write the following:
- I am enough.
- I do enough.
- I have enough.
- I have always been enough.
- I love myself just as I am.
Once these declarations are written, begin to speak them out loud to yourself multiple times a day.
Pay close attention to how your inner critic will attempt to not only distract you from doing this, but also how it offers reasons why one or more of these declarations are not true for you.
Why is this so important for a self-care routine for your body?
When you do not believe you are enough, or you do not believe what you are doing in life is enough, it is very easy to unconsciously sabotage your desires.
Developing a Growth Mindset
When your desires are being sabotaged, small obstacles and distractions to loving yourself turn into giant ones. These obstacles and distractions become excuses for why there isn’t enough time or resources to engage in a self-care routine for your body.
How do you overcome this?
Remove seen and unseen obstacles on your path by identifying limiting beliefs and then replacing them with new, more empowering beliefs.
Limiting beliefs show up in a variety of ways. At the core of their essence is a disempowered, fixed mindset.
This means you have a fixed set of beliefs that are not serving you, but you remain convinced they are true and unchangeable.
Empowering beliefs support your desires for improvement.
They are developed through an empowered, growth mindset that does not allow past failures or perceived obstacles to get in the way of your well-being.
Stop Avoiding What Triggers You
A self-care routine for your body after 60 requires a conscious and consistent approach to observing your thoughts and emotions as they show up.
How do you go about this?
Stop avoiding thoughts and emotions that are uncomfortable. Even worse, don’t dismiss your desires or inspired ideas as being selfish or unattainable.
If you avoid what triggers you, whether it is an uncomfortable feeling or a feeling of joy, this creates added stress and emotional turmoil in your mind and body.
That is why even if you are in good physical shape, your emotional and mental state of being can be suffering greatly as a result of avoiding what triggers you.
It All Starts with You
To love more of who you are requires that you own your emotions and take responsibility for how you feel. This includes not making excuses or blaming others for why you neglect to engage in a consistent self-care routine for your body.
No matter where you find yourself on the emotional spectrum, the common denominator in all of you of life experiences is YOU.
Therefore, to establish and maintain a healthy, self-care routine for your body after 60 it is 100% your responsibility and no one else’s.
In part-two of this article and video for Sixty and Me readers, we will explore 15 easy ways to establish a self-care routing after 60.
In the meantime, join me in the video above where I share additional insights and guide you through three journal prompts and 10 empowering affirmations.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Can you say that you love your body? Why or why not? What self-care routine have you established for your body so that it is well cared for? What obstacles have you overcome on your path to developing a self-care routine that works for you?
