SELF-CARE

What is Self-Care?

Self-Care is described as the practice of looking after oneself by engaging in healthy activities and proactive sickness management when necessary. Every day, people make decisions about their diet, exercise, sleep, and dental care as a sort of self-care. Although it has gained more popularity recently, the idea of self-care has a long history. The self-care movement was allegedly started by Socrates in ancient Greece, although it has been established that people have taken care of themselves and their loved ones ever since the first humans emerged on the planet.

Why do we need to normalize Self-care?

Ever so often, we burn out from the things that spike up our stress levels and we don’t know how to handle it when we are at the peak of the moment. But what happens if we take a “break” before we reach that peak? I’ve been doing my research about Self care and guess what!

I found out that by just reading a book, walking by the beach, cleaning the house and just a simple workout can help decrease your stress levels. And just by doing these small daily activities made me much happier and I hope what you are doing is making you active and happy at the same time.

Below are the different types of Self-Care and I hope you’ll learn from what I know about it and the the reason why we need to normalize Self-care.

Six (6) different Types of Self-Care:

Emotional Self-Care

Now that we've dug a little further, we can say that emotional self-care is frequently just the act of letting yourself feel your feelings for what they are — with little to no judgement. At first, this may be particularly difficult, but with practice, you'll get better at it. Finding something to laugh at, giving yourself compliments when you look in the mirror, letting yourself cry when you're sad, spending time with loved ones, and re-reading or re-watching your favourite book or movie until you can recite every line word for word are some activities in this category.

Practical Self-Care

Practical self-care includes any steps you do to meet your basic needs and lessen stress. Even if these self-care activities are arguably less enjoyable than others, you will notice a difference in your mood when you tidy your room or maintain a fitness schedule. They greatly enhance our sense of peace and control in our hectic life and greatly save our sanity. Particularly beneficial for young professionals, caretakers, stay-at-home parents, and anyone who struggles to maintain organisation.

 Physical Self-Care

Many of us undoubtedly associate self-care with physical self-care. Any actions you take consciously to improve your physical wellbeing are considered this kind of self-care.

Everyone benefits from physical self-care, but how you choose to practise it will depend on your lifestyle. Taking your dog for a walk would be a fantastic form of self-care if you spend all day sitting in an office chair. In contrast, if you spend your entire shift working in construction, you may want to end your shift with some restorative yoga. Physical self-care is something that everyone can benefit from, but how you choose to do it varies depending on your lifestyle. If you spend the entire day sitting in an office chair, taking your dog for a walk would be a wonderful form of self-care.

Mental Self-Care

Mental self-care includes whatever you do expressly to stimulate your mind and nurture a healthy psyche. It's not about achieving mental nirvana; it's about understanding and building a love relationship with your mind. Examples: Reading a book, taking a new course, solving a puzzle, playing chess, going to a museum, etc.

Social Self-Care

People are social beings, which means we require constant contact with people in order to survive (yes, even introverts!). Therefore, it's crucial to prioritise social self-care, or actions that strengthen our interpersonal relationships. The issue is that we frequently change or cancel our plans when our schedules become chaotic and overwhelming and we might benefit most from facetime with people. While it's true that occasionally we all just need to say "no," it's equally crucial to schedule time for social interaction. Because more institutions and workplaces are moving online in recent years, this has been more apparent.

You might need more social self-care lately if you live alone or thrive off the energy of face-to-face interaction. Keep in mind that maintaining relationships with people, despite your busy schedule, is essential!

Try to reach out to those people who are your friends and family.

Spiritual Self-Care

Whether you are an atheist, agnostic, or believe in God, Allah, Buddha, it is essential to incorporate spiritual self-care into your daily routine. In this context, the term "spiritual" does not pertain to religion or the idea of a higher power (although, it absolutely can if that is what helps you). Everyone can benefit from spiritual self-care, but it's especially useful if you want to feel more rooted in your daily life. Anyone experiencing loss and sadness, uncertainty in their health or finances, or any other difficult life circumstances might find solace in it. Best practices would be Spending time in nature, engaging in prayer, or attending a worship service, doing yoga, and creating a vision board or doing something else that lights you up and inspires you.