How to Nourish Your Soul

In the recipe for nourishment, nourishing your soul plays an important part. Learn how to nourish your soul by creating a self-care routine for yourself. 

​Now that we’ve talked about my recipe for nourishment and how to nourish your body with food, it’s time to dive into how to nourish your soul. As you’ve previously read, my recipe for nourishment contains both nourishing the body & the soul. I want to focus on why I think self-care is important & how taking care of your soul will lead you to a more nourished life.
 
Self-care has been all over the place this year. I don’t think a week goes by where I don’t see an article that mentions self-care. Self-care is basically taking time to take of yourself to reduce stress, enhance your well-being, & bring you a sense of inner peace. This looks like so many different things for everyone & is a very individualized practice. Some may like to be active as form of self-care, while others may enjoy alone time with a book, or shopping, or a mix of everything. 

As a dietitian I believe everyone has their own version of health. And that health is based on that recipe for nourishment – nourishing your body & soul. Your mental & emotional well-being is so integral to your overall health, which is why I think it’s important to focus on self-care. By nourishing your soul with self-care, you will be able to deal with stress better & not let it consume you, be more focused, & reduce your risk for burnout. Our society can be very fast paced & it can seem like everyone is hustling all the time. But, when you stop & take that little bit of time out for yourself it can do wonders for your short-term & long-term health. 

​The other part to nourishing your soul is surrounding yourself with positive affirmations & people who build you up. This is super important! With social media today, there can be a lot of negativity that you unintentionally subject yourself to without even realizing it. Take time to go through your social media accounts & unfollow people who make you feel bad about yourself. Unfollow the hunger shaming accounts, the unrealistic body image accounts, and fill your feed with positive, uplifting images & messages. Find accounts that inspire your to be your best self & follow those! I’ll put the links to some of my favorites below:

@hgoodrichrd
@immaeatthat
@thereallife_rd
@marieforleo
@chr1styharrison
@shinetext

@init4thelongrun
@bodypositivememes
@paigesmathersrd
@circlesofchange
@rebeccascritchfield
@jennifer_rollin

I also will be adding positive affirmations to a new Pinterest board that you can check out for a pick-me-up anytime! So be sure to check it out! ​

How will you nourish your soul?

​I think there’s two parts to answering that question. The first is by being proactive and regularly doing some type of self-care practice. Make a point to schedule in self-care time each week & make it a routine. The other part is more reactive. When you find yourself becoming stressed or when you feel your soul is being depleted, turn to self-care activities to replenish the good vibes.
 
Take some time to think about activities that bring you joy. What do you like to do to relax & unwind? Maybe it’s a nature walk, going to a coffee shop, a glass of wine, or a bubble bath. Make a list of your favorite self-care activities that you can keep somewhere safe. This way you have a bank of self-care ideas to build into your routine.
 
It can be hard to make self-care a routine at first because a lot of times we’re so worried about taking care of everyone else. What we have to remember is that in order to be our best selves & take care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first. Because we won’t be able to be fully present for others if we are there for ourselves first.

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