There is no question that we live in an ever changing fast pasted world, and it seems like our world is changing faster every day. Especially during this unpresented time, in a matter of weeks our world was turned upside down. Schools closed, daycare closed, Courts started to convert their hearings to telephone conferences.

Change is inventible, it’s scary, it’s uncertain and it’s stressful.

In this post, we’ll provide you with five quick tips that you can incorporate into your daily life. Clients who are divorcing, separating or going through a custody dispute are especially vulnerable at not making self-care a priority.

Self-care, according to the Oxford dictionary, is the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.

It is so important to maintain self-care no matter the circumstances. If self-care is not maintained clients tend to start to develop unhealthy habits. Unhealthy habits tend to have unhealthy results.

There is a direct link between successful representation and client’s self-care. We want to provide the best legal services to our clients. We strive to provide them with the best executed legal documents possible. We need our clients to be the best version of themselves when they are going though uncertain times so that our clients and our representation can be successful before, during and after their case.

We started researching this topic because we have been observing more and more clients not making self-care a priory. We came across an article through the blog tiny buddha, by Ellen Bard. Her mission is to help you shine more brightly at work and in life. She provides 45 Simple Self-Care Practices for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul https://tinybuddha.com/blog/45-simple-self-care-practices-for-a-healthy-mind-body-and-soul/

After reviewing this article, we decided to create our own top five self-care tips for clients who are going through a divorce, separation, custody dispute or are feeling stress.

1. Schedule five minute “Me Times”:

   Even just five minutes to yourself can give your some much needed time to regroup your thoughts. When you take just a few minutes to indulge in your feels makes you feel in control of your thoughts. It is always okay to accept the fact that you are stressed, not feeling yourself, sad, disappointed. It is only when you take a little “me time” to become mindful of where you are. Once you do you are then able to move on to where you want to be.

2. Reach out to support groups:

   divorcecare.org is a great organization that has several support groups that clients can join locally. Even if you don’t have time to go to meetings, you can join their facebook group where you have 24/7 access to others to help support you. You’re not alone in your journey, and reaching out to others who are experiencing the same issues can help guide you to better self-care.

3. Maintain a schedule:

   Create a self-care five minute routine. With the uncertainty of our community it is always best to maintain a set schedule for your self-care and also the self-care of your children. Knowing what to expect helps us with stress and we have a sense of control. It’s especially difficult during these times to know what to expect but, you can control and set a schedule for yourself for self-care and your “me time” Even if you can set a very small schedule, it’s a great start.

4. Be Flexible with your self-care routine:

   With our ever changing world, it is important to remember that your five minute “me time” might turn into a three minute “me time” routine but this is okay. A three minute self-care routine is better than to have no self-care practices at all.  There might also be some days where you can practice a ten minute routine.

5. Schedule time for kindness:

It’s very easy to get caught up in stressful situations especially when clients are going through life changing times. The automatic response is to become defensive, angry and tense. When clients schedule even just five minutes to acts of kindness to others, that kindness tends to overflow to other aspects of your life. Your kindness does not have to be directed to your ex or soon to be ex, or anyone that is unkind to you. It can be as simple as donating your old books to a homeless shelter, or donating your unused clothes to your local church. Having a kinder state of mind has helped so many clients through difficult times.