Written in collaboration with Manisha Dhalani
As a healthcare advisor, it’s not only imperative for me to inform my clients about the ideal health protection plans. I also need to constantly highlight the need to focus on their family and mental health.
Imagine this – you work hard to secure your insurance policies, get enough hospitalization and medical coverage, only to end up sick in the hospital bed. You don’t allocate time for yourself or your loved ones. There is no self-care involved, just rigorous amounts of work and stress.
When I meet my clients, I remind them that protecting themselves from exorbitant medical bills is crucial in today’s expensive world. However, the idea here is not to get protection and then drive yourself sick with worries. The insurance policies you sign up for and the premiums you pay are for rainy days when you truly do fall critically ill and medical costs become unavoidable.
I didn’t become a licensed health advisor to simply sell insurance policies. I became one to advise people that while protection is key, prevention is better than cure.
I have to be an example for my clients and I do so by showing them how I care for my health. One of the ways I prevent myself from falling ill is by taking small steps to care for myself and for my loved ones, too. Especially in times like these when we’re surrounded by news of a devastating pandemic across the globe.
So how do I do it? How do I keep my health in check?
Find your language of love
In Gary Chapman’s book, he speaks of the five languages of love. Mine is gifts – which means, yes, any time there’s a festivity – it becomes my favorite time of the year.
2020 has been hard. Self-care for a healthcare advisor has been a challenge, amongst other things. But I am grateful for a loving family that understands the importance of taking time for each individual to care for themselves.
This is why, to recognize and acknowledge my love language, I’ve come up with lists of amazing things I love. I am gifting you my holiday lists that will help you ease your woes about what to get your loved ones for their birthdays or for Christmas.
I have always enjoyed my favorite products with friends and family. I’m excited that I finally have an Amazon Shopfront link to put together lists of all my favorite presents in one place.
Here are my top three favorite lists:
- Gifts for your man – getting gifts for guys can be so hard! I have been married for almost a decade and these gifts are tried and true. Your man is special and deserves a special gift too. While every man’s choice differs, I’m confident that there’s something on this list that may suit his taste.
2. Baby Things on Repeat – As a first-time mother, I learned a lot of things the hard way. To help women now in my shoes, I’ve prepared a list of items for your precious little one – including diapers, wipes, blankets, and favorite toys. If you’re thinking of buying diapers or baby sauce, go through the list and check out my recommendations – all of which I’ve already tried. These also might give you some inspiration for your baby registry.
3. The third and final list is my favorite. It’s called Brown Girl Picks which is a list all about self-care and solving brown girl problems. Let me get real. As a South Asian woman, I have some very specific problems in my life, for instance, a unibrow that will just not go away. Or having halal chicken in my freezer. Or figuring out how to not get my ice in my freezer to smell like meat! The list is endless. Brown Girl Picks has some ‘treat yourself’ items and great ideas for gifting the special brown girl in your life.
Give yourself little treats all year round
This year, I found myself concentrating on self-care regimens. I finally understood how important it is to balance work and your mental health – another health factor that is often overlooked in our society.
I do this by treating myself with little treats. I find that by doing so, your mood is lifted and you’re in the spirit to take on more workout routines and be more creative and productive.
Like I mentioned earlier, when I became a mother for the first time, I found myself struggling to care for my baby. This initially stressed me out. I had to do a lot of experiments to find out what works best. Fortunately, my baby is a creature of habit, and I quickly realized that he is comfortable with certain products. I added these things to my list of must-buy baby items. This made my life so much easier. It took away the stress I had and I ended up spending more happy times bonding with my son.
During times when I do get some free time – if my baby is napping or my husband is caring for our child – I like to read. The Kindle reader is probably one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. If I had one thing to save in a fire, it would be my Kindle. I have a bunch of books that I absolutely love reading for motivation or just to escape into a world of imagination. Check out the list of my favorite books on the Amazon Storefront. I hope these give you some respite from stress and maybe even some enlightenment.
With this Amazon Storefront, I find that I can relate to my clients better. Knowing what struggles you go through helps me pick out items that are relevant and of use to you. I want my clients to feel at ease in their lives and the one way I can do so out of my scope as a health advisor is to offer you such beneficial lists.
If you’ve checked out my list already, thank you. Please do revisit the link from time to time as I will regularly update them when I try new things or get more recommendations.
Please know that each and every item on the list is vetted by me. In fact, if you ever visit my home, you will see a lot of things on my Amazon Storefront in it.
So whether you’re buying something specific or looking for gift inspiration, do browse through my storefront and keep it bookmarked. I hope these lists alleviate your concerns about gift ideas for the holidays and keep your health in-check throughout the year.
Take care of yourself.
If you need help figuring out your health insurance, you need to talk to me first! Schedule some time to speak with me here.
