January self-care challenge, Day 7: The joy of rest

It’s the final day of the January 2022 Tenner Week self care challenge. If you’ve made it this far, well done!

Today’s activity is called ‘the joy of rest‘, and it’s all about actively deciding to rest and relax. All you have to do is devote half an hour to properly rest and recuperate, which many of us simply don’t do because we feel so busy or obliged to be constantly productive. In fact, we tend to be more productive when we’re properly rested and also remember to take regular breaks.

This activity needs to be something that appeals to you personally, but it could include one of these ideas:

• Reading the papers in bed in the morning
• Breakfast in bed
• Putting your feet up and listening to music
• Having an afternoon nap
• Lie on the floor and put your feet up the wall
• Having a soak in the tub
• Turning devices / social media off at 7pm
• Going to bed early
• Listening to a sleep story
• Trying a bedtime relaxation exercise

What’s happening here

Yesterday I managed to get out for a nice long walk, and spent some of the time doing a walking meditation by focusing on the sensations in the soles of my feet. I only managed a few minutes, but it takes practise to get good at this sort of thing so I might try doing more in the future. Didn’t manage any pampering, but maybe that could happen today instead because Sunday evening is such a good time to wind down.

There was enough homemade dough and grated mozzarella in the freezer to make a really good pizza for dinner last night, and we ate that in front of some of our favourite comedy shows. I’m pretty sure having a good laugh counts as self care too.

Today I’m hoping to have a little lie-in or maybe some breakfast in bed and half an hour of reading, depending upon how noisy our neighbourhood decides to be. I’d say the odds are 50:50 on that one, but either way there’ll be some kind of resting going on. The fridge is starting to look very empty so lunch and dinner are mostly going to come from the freezer, but I still think we’ll still be able to make a mini roast in the evening and get enough fruit and vegetables down the hatch to stay healthy.

There’s still 70p left out of my budget right now, and the plan is to stay out of the shops for the rest of today, both physical and online. That way I’ll have done all the activities and not overspent for the week.

How’s your week of self care turned out, and did you have a favourite activity? How’s your budget looking today?