It has been a crazy year. It’s been hard to keep up, and we have found ourselves at times mentally and emotionally fatigued.
If you’re anything like us, keeping self-care front of mind has been near impossible. We’ve been too preoccupied baking banana bread, styling all outfits with fluffy slippers and posting throwbacks pleading our followers to TAKE US BACK on Instagram.
We have found one of the most effective ways of retaining clarity amongst this chaos, is keeping in contact with our friends and family. We consider Tegan Martin both friend and family, she’s a former Miss Universe Australia, a presenter, a podcast host and an all-round inspiring woman. We sat down with her (virtually) and got the low-down on her self-care tips.
Tegan, with many people experiencing stress and anxiety right now, what are your top tips for grounding yourself?
My number one tip for dealing with stress and anxiety is a little breathing exercise I do when I am feeling anxious. I breathe in for 6 seconds, hold for 3 seconds and breathe out and I repeat this process 3 times. This exercise calms any tightness in my chest and immediately eases any anxiety or overwhelm that I am feeling.
Something I try to be aware of in the current climate is creating false scenarios in my head that are most likely not going to play out, after which I can find myself feeling anxious. A great tool I now use to snap myself out of this habit is tapping. With my index finger I tap on my temple or forehead until I bring my awareness back to the present moment (which is always where we find calmness).
Those are great tricks. What are your top tips for keeping a positive mindset?
I truly believe the thing I have the most control over in keeping a positive mindset is getting sufficient sleep and eating nutrient dense foods. It doesn’t matter what other practices I adopt to my routine, I don’t feel my best mentally unless I am eating well and getting at least 8-9 quality hours of sleep. I often notice this when I’m out of routine whilst travelling and not eating foods that I know my body thrives on.
Equally as powerful for me has been awareness of what time of the month it is and what my hormones are doing. Instead of over-analysing, I allow myself some leigh way as more often than not, I am in a much better mood the next day.
What’s your self-care ritual? We need to know!
Little things like lighting candles, spraying aromatherapy mist in my workspace and morning and night-time affirmations are my favourite self-care practices. Affirmations have been a great source of strength for me my whole life. If there is an opportunity in the pipeline that I am really interested in I will tell myself every morning and evening that I am worthy of it and that it is already mine.
What are your suggestions for great self-care rituals that people can do at home, for their brain and body?
In terms of caring for my body, dry brushing and exfoliation are two wonderful self-care rituals that my skin and body thrive on. I find it not only makes my skin feel softer but enhances the texture of my skin and improves my circulation which is always good for detoxification.
My favourite at home beauty treatment is dying my lashes and brows with 1000Hour tint. This allows me to feel confident sans makeup, which means all I need to do to feel ready is some SPF+ and a natural oil of some sort and I feel like I am walking through my day with a glow.
When it comes to self-care for my mind, for most of my early twenties, mindfulness was always a buzz word that had no obvious meaning. It has only been recently that I have developed my own understanding of it. For me, it has been about slowing down the pace of my mind and body to take in and appreciate the little things in life. It is amazing how much we miss whilst striving to tick off the next thing on our list. By learning to be aware of my senses more often, I have been able to stay fully present in what I am doing. Stopping to touch something, smell something or listen carefully to the sound of nature are some ways in which I practice being mindful. In doing this I have seen a real shift in my energy and outlook on life.
I am quite fascinated in finding ways to improve my mental clarity and memory. The best tools that have worked in doing so for me so far have been regular infrared sauna use and taking Lions Mane as a supplement. I love how I feel when I wake up with a clear mind and when I have the ability to take in new information and store it for when it is next useful.
Tegan Martin is a former Miss Universe Australia, a podcast host and presenter. Tegan joined us for our Swim 2019 Campaign and our My Kind of Confident campaign. She inspires us every day and we can't wait to see what she does next!