Self-care has been a term that’s been going around for at least several years in the mental health community. Many people have different ideas of what self care looks like and what works for them. The main idea, however, is that self care is supposed to be taking care of yourself and taking care of daily needs in a healthy and productive way. There are different areas of our lives that need attention and here we offer some tips and ideas that anyone can try.
1. Physical self-care: Our bodies need daily care and attention. Some ways of ideas of doing this are going for a walk outside, eating a healthy meal, or even making sure that you take your daily medication. Other ideas can involve doing routine workouts, or even just stretches in your living room.
2. Mental self care: Our minds need just as much care as our bodies. Without taking care of our minds we run the risk of burning ourselves out on stress. Mental self care can involve turning off the phone over the weekend, taking a temporary social media break, or reading a book.
3. Emotional self care: This area of self care can be rather tricky due to emotions being unpredictable. Emotional self care can involve meditating, journaling out our feelings, practicing gratitude, or talking to a trusted friend about our feelings are all options.
4. Spiritual self care: This is an area of our lives that most people may not pay attention to, but it is still necessary to take care of none the less. Spiritual self care can involve reading a spiritual text, going to a worship service or a place of worship, praying, or taking the time to be alone.
Self care can be rather simple to do and does not require too much time on our parts. Taking time out of every day for at least five minutes can be really helpful to our overall well-being. Additionally it can improve the way that we relate to other people in our lives. If we can take care of ourselves first, then we are more free and open to taking care of others.