I must admit that I did not have much time to pamper myself. Since I gave birth to my daughter more than four years ago, I realized that time flies and I did not even notice that I have not accomplished much for myself in terms of physical fitness, extra-curricular activities, a regular health check-up with my doctor, and the like. There were times that 6 months will pass without me having been to the hairdresser to have my gray hair dyed and trimmed. Two years have passed since I gave birth to my son and I haven’t seen my gynecologist for my regular check-up and paps smear.

I felt guilty that years come and go without me doing something special for myself. Doing the following for ourselves, will help us realize that the way to look after ourselves is to give a little bit of pampering once in a while:

1. Get yourself into a regular exercise. Brisk walking every morning or late in the afternoon will boost our energy level. Walking is one of the best exercises to relieve stress caused by daily loads of work we have at home.  Running is good as well as long as the proper techniques are applied.

2. Set a schedule for yourself to just sit and relax, and watch your favourite television show. I know this cannot be done most of the times especially when the kids are still young and demand lots of our attention. So if you cannot fix a schedule for this, do this when the kids are busy playing or having an afternoon nap.

3. If you prefer to have a nap when the kids are having theirs, then that would be a good idea. A nap somehow will help you recharge your energy for the remaining responsibility of the day.

4. Give yourself a treat by doing the things that you love to do at least one day fortnightly. If you have young kids that make it impossible for you to do this, you can ask a family member or trusted relative to look after the kid for a couple of hours. If you can do with the kids with you, then, that would be better.

5. Dress up and put a bit of make-up on. Make yourself beautiful as if you are going somewhere even if you are just set to stay home the whole day and do house chores. I started doing this when a friend of mine saw me through our webcam and gave me some comments on my then problematic skin, dry hair etc. She sent me a huge amount of beauty products after a month. Take note: those products are from the “Philippines to Australia with love…” Feeling beautiful and well taken care of physically helped me boost my energy and self-confidence. When I look and feel beautiful I feel energized, recharged, confident, and happy. That really makes a big difference.