The term “self-care” can elicit thoughts of a spa day, retail therapy or something expensively pampering like that. Believe it or not, self-care can be done for free and in pretty much any setting whether you are at home or at work. All you must do is focus.

One of the biggest things that people forget to do at work is to take breaks. It is very important for mental health to take those breaks and change your surroundings. You can get up and take a walk around the building, look away from the screen and stretch at your desk, or you can go into the break room and take a few deep breaths. Some people have jobs that are so demanding they don’t even get breaks except for to go to the bathroom. In that case I urge you to take a few minutes while you’re in the bathroom and do some breathing instead of checking your phone and catching up on Facebook.

Simply being at home does not mean that we are going to be able to relax. For many of us there are kids, significant others, chores, exercise, and a million little things that need to be done each and every day. While getting things done is important we won’t be able to get those things done affectively if we do not first take care of ourselves. I always give the example to my clients of being on an airplane. When the flight attendant goes through the safety instructions she says in the event the oxygen masks drop down, put the mask on yourself first and then your child. The reason for this is because if you cannot breathe then you will not be able to help your child breathe. The same is true in many other situations.

It can be tempting to focus on others because it prevents us from having to look at ourselves and take care of ourselves. A workaholic may appear to be a productive and successful individual but they may not be as together as they appear. Throwing oneself into all-consuming work can be stressful on the mind and the body (I know from experience). In America for some reason we do not take the recommended vacation times which is much shorter than in many other countries. Typical vacation time for the U.S. is two weeks per year. Very rarely do people go ahead and take a full two weeks chunk out of their year and go relax. Some do take a full two weeks off and end up doing chores the whole vacation!

One way to relax at home is by turning off all the electronics finding a quiet place all to yourself and either sit in silence listen to a soothing meditation or have a candle burning that you love the smell of. Even just watching the flame flicker can be kind of soothing. When I do it, it reminds me of a fireplace in the winter with the flame is flickering in the warmth generating off it. Got kids? Find a sitter for 10 minutes. Just 10 minutes to yourself can make a dramatic difference.

Some things to remember when you were debating making time just for yourself is that you are important, you are worth the time to take care of yourself, and it is essential to take maintain the health of you mind and body. It is okay to focus on you!

What do you do for self-care? Comment below.