Self-Care and the Small Business Owner: Simple Strategies for Summer

By SBE Council at 24 July, 2026, 3:52 pm

By Amy Riolo –

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” —Jean Shinoda Bolen

International Self Care Day is July 24^th, and finding time for self-care is a consistent challenge of small business owners and entrepreneurs. With never ending must-do, should-do, and could-do lists to attend to, prioritizing self-care and prevention of illness often get overlooked, or worse, frowned upon. Entrepreneurs and small business owners face additional pressure to perform because every single task they do has a direct impact on not only their bottom line, but their credo and reputation as well.

Statistics are in favor of those who plan for downtime. A recent Harvard Business Review video explains how rest can enhance creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making skills among business owners. This Psychology Today article explains why carving out time to rest can be so difficult, and how to get better at it.

Personally, I try to schedule a D.F.N. day for myself at least once a quarter, but usually once a month. D.F.N. stands for the Italian term “dolce far niente” which means “the sweetness of doing nothing.”

On those days I plan in advance. I cook or am sure to have good food on hand the day before. I think about things that I might like to do: watch a movie, or a read a book, and I notify people my inner circle and colleagues that I’m going to be “off” for that day. I usually plan them on Sundays because the world demands less from us in the US and Italy on those days. When the scheduled off time arrives, I sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, take time to breath, nap, and give myself permission to literally do nothing. If I get the urge to read a book, watch tv, meditate, do yoga, or take a walk, I do it. Otherwise, I don’t, and I allow myself to not feel guilty about it either.

Confessions of a Workaholic and the Transition to Self-Care

As an entrepreneur, I realized that I had spent over a decade working 7 days a week. The adage “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life” was my mantra. But I realized during the Covid 19 pandemic that even work that we love is still physically and mentally demanding, and we all deserve and need rest.

The first time I scheduled one of these days followed a month-long marathon of filming, large public events, heavy duty cooking for large quantities of people, and long hours, etc. What surprised me most was that after looking forward to my dolce far niente day for so long, the first one didn’t get off to such a great start. Instead of waking up late and feeling rested, I awoke to a full-blown panic attack.

With the usual multi-tasking functionality of my brain in effect, one of my normal thoughts turned into an irrational fear, which in turn escalated to a perceived catastrophe that induced one of the worst panic attacks I’ve ever had. I was so scared that I reached for the phone and called another chef colleague for help. He confided that the same thing happens to him on his first day off after a long working marathon and helped me to calm down until it subsided.

I’m not sharing this personal story to scare anyone, but instead to point out that entrepreneurs may have difficulty adjusting to the advice of health care professionals due to their unique working conditions. That said, once I identified the problem, I never had it again. I keep a notebook nearby on my rest days and when a thought comes up I write it down to address the next day or ASAP and give myself permission to not worry about it right away.

This is what works for me, and I’m sure others have even more effective strategies, but the key is to allow ourselves to seek out self-care and feel good about it.

The Importance of Prioritizing Health and Wellness

This blog focuses on easy, free ways to prioritize your own care. If we were to conduct a cost- benefit analysis on the efforts necessary to ensure our mental and physical health, we would be much more inspired to carve out time for ourselves. This post is dedicated to easy ways and pleasurable ways to make that happen.

Incidentally, July is also National Culinary Arts Month. I like to say that “Eating well is the ultimate form of self-care.” I’m also grateful for the bounty of summer produce which makes eating delicious and nutritious food much easier. You’ll find many useful tips on healthful eating and lifestyle hacks in these free resources on preventing or reversing prediabetes as well as meal planning and nutrition. You can print them out and refer to them daily as an act of self-care.

Job-related stress is said to cost U.S. businesses approximately $300 billion annually in turnover, insurance costs, absenteeism, and diminished productivity, according to the American Institute of Stress. If you’re a small business owner, those costs fall directly upon you.

As a result, setting a good example of self-care for yourself, your family and friends, and your business should be a requirement of a successful business plan. Self-care looks different for different people and during different times. The following list are some ideas to incorporate to help you achieve your goals.

Daily Self Care Strategies to Practice Anywhere

❑ Spend time on a hobby or activity that you enjoy. This activity adds meaning and pleasure in your life while contributing to your purpose and lowering stress.

❑ Listen to beautiful music whenever possible. Music will help boost your mood, energy, and concentration. Grapes grow better and are more resistant to disease when classical music is played in vineyards, so imagine what it can do for your body!

❑ Beautify your space with objects that are meaningful to you. We all have our own definitions of beauty and what’s meaningful to us. The more of those elements that you can add to your work and home space, the better.

❑ Talk with a close confidante. Having someone to confide in is integral to mental health.

❑ Get a minimum of 30 minutes of fresh air per day. Mental health professionals claim that fresh air is more beneficial to our moods than antipsychotic drugs are.

❑ Laugh as often as possible. Lowering stress and increasing happiness is great for healing and preventing illness.

❑ Make time for rest and relaxation. Rest and relaxation are a daily, not a once-a-year, practice in the Mediterranean region.

❑ Look on the bright side of situations that are bothersome in your life.

❑ Cook a meal for yourself and/or your family or friends. Take pleasure in making more of your meals at home and sharing them with others for the mental and physical payoff.

❑ Decide who to eat with before deciding what to eat. Eating communally is the backbone of the Mediterranean lifestyle — the more, the merrier!

❑ Buy organic groceries when possible. Better-quality food leads to better health.

❑ Eat with others as often as possible. Look for creative ways to include other people in your mealtimes — even if it means going outside of familial bonds and using unconventional methods such as FaceTime and Skype to do so.

❑ Engage in physical activity that you enjoy. Doing what you love is as good for the psyche as physical exercise is for the body. Pick some activities you really enjoy, and you’ll get total body benefits at the same time. If you add nature into the mix, you’ll be getting three benefits at once!

❑ Carve out more time for yourself each day. It’s important that you have moments when you don’t have to account to anyone – to clear your mind, sit with your emotions, nap, or just recharge.

❑ Bring or make a healthy lunch on workdays. You’ll enjoy nutritionally sound meals and save money.

❑ Use good-quality extra-virgin olive oil as your main cooking fat. This healthful fat provides powerful antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, which work to coax additional nutrients out of healthful foods and have anti-inflammatory properties that help keep many diseases at bay.

❑ Take a walk outdoors after a meal. Walking after a meal improves digestion and increases your exposure to nature and the outdoors.

❑ Spend time gardening or with potted plants. A recent study revealed that gardening was linked to greater happiness along with eating out, biking, walking, and recreational activities.

❑ Enjoy healthful foods as the base of each meal. Make sure that your meals are based on healthful ingredients such as leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains, fish and seafood, and dairy, with good-quality meat eaten sparingly.

❑ Use aromatics to flavor food. Instead of adding more salt, butter, and cream to recipes to make your food taste better, opt for good-quality spices, handfuls of chopped fresh herbs, garlic, onions, and shallots to produce more taste without the calories and fat.

❑ Choose fruit for dessert. On regular days, instead of finishing a meal with a fat- and calorie-laden dessert, grab a piece of fresh fruit instead. You’ll get a dose of sweetness along with vitamins and minerals. Save the super-sweet treats for special occasions or once a week.

❑ Start or maintain a healthful eating ritual with friends or family. If you can, start a tradition of eating at least one meal a day with friends, family, colleagues, or others who value the benefits of communal eating.

❑ Add leafy green vegetables to your lunch and dinner menus. Artichokes, asparagus, avocado, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, chicory, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, kiwi, lettuce, purslane, spinach, Swiss chard, and zucchini are examples of nutrient-dense produce. Be sure to add at least one of them to every meal.

❑ Bring healthful snacks, such as fruit and nuts, with you when you leave home. This will stave off hunger longer and ensure that you aren’t satisfying your hunger with something unhealthy.

❑ Spend time in nature, preferably by water and/or green trees. The “green effect” and the “blue effect” of spending just 10 minutes a day looking at trees or water have emotional benefits.

❑ Practice gratitude for blessings large and small as often as possible. “If you say only one prayer, make it thank you” is a popular philosophy in the region, and this attitude helps attract more of the things we love.

❑ Live your purpose in every way possible. This will add meaning to your days and make living worthwhile.

❑ Take a 10- to 20-minute nap. Naps help productivity, focus, weight manage-ment, stress reduction, and much more.

❑ Aim for 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night. Getting enough sleep promotes better overall body functions, such as blood sugar management, hormonal functions, and brain performance.

❑ Participate in a cultural activity (for example, theater, opera, or a sporting event) with loved ones. Socialization increases the level of oxytocin (known as the “love hormone”).

❑ Host guests for a meal, coffee, or tea. Even a small gesture goes a long way toward promoting feelings of camaraderie and community.

❑ Organize your day around your meals as much as possible. This ensures eating the right foods at the right times while promoting a sense of security and safety.

❑ Drink herbal teas in the evening before bed and throughout the day. The nutritional benefits of herbs can help in achieving our various health goals and are healthful, caffeine-free rituals.

❑ Spend some time in the sun. Getting more vitamin D helps immunity, while sun exposure increases serotonin (a mood stabilizer).

❑ Peruse philosophy books. Philosophy helps us to understand ourselves, the world we live in, and how we relate to it.

❑ Practice ethical and/or spiritual traditions that are symbolic to you. These traditions add meaning, ritual, and routine to life, while offering support mechanisms during times of adversity.

Keep this checklist, inspired by one that I created in Mediterranean Lifestyle for Dummies nearby for daily inspiration. Checking off any of these items is a positive step in claiming your health, happiness, and success in business.

Wishing everyone a month of pleasure and health.

Amy Riolo is an award winning, best-selling author of 26 books, television personality, and Mediterranean lifestyle ambassador who was named Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy by the President of the Italian Republic. She is one of the world’s foremost authorities on culinary culture and the topics of her book range from cooking to food history and wellness.