Me-time and self-care – what's the difference?

Me-time is a time of the day or week that you’ve put aside to do activities focused on making yourself happy. Self-care is creating a life you enjoy and don’t feel the need to escape from.

Me-time is part of self-care but self-care is more than me-time.

Self-care encompasses a huge range of things and can be seen as a mindset or even a lifestyle. Self-care will be different for everyone but the first step towards self-care is to realise, acknowledge and accept that YOU MATTER.

It can be hard and even painful to accept that you matter, especially if you have mental health difficulties, are depressed or are suffering from anxiety. If you are depressed or anxious, obviously there's no substitute for a doctor (and maybe a therapist, if you can access one) so they should be your first port of call.

But the good news is that even if you are depressed and anxious, there are lifestyle changes that you can make that will help you along the way and support any work you're doing with your GP or therapist. These changes will help you shape the life you want and cut out all the unnecessary stuff that's depleting your energy and wasting your life. I'm going to share them with you. I want you to be happy and I want to help you get to your happy self.

Happiness is obviously subjective and the route to it will be different for each person, but the formula for it is the same for everyone:

Time to enjoy yourself

+ an environment you can enjoy yourself in

+ activities you find pleasurable

+ no distractions

+ the right companions

= Happiness

So how can we get there? Well as the old song tells us, the road is long... But all long roads start with a first step. Our first step is to decide once and for all that happiness is something that we deserve. Happiness is something that you deserve.

Not when the kids are older, not when you get promoted, not when you lose a couple of stone. Now. You are a human and you matter and you deserve to be happy. You deserve long term happiness and fulfilment. You deserve to prioritise your own happiness and put in the time and effort it takes to make yourself happy.

Are you ready? Then lets begin...