Self-care is the act of recognizing your physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional needs and doing what’s necessary to restore your well-being. Without regular self-care, you’ll find yourself more vulnerable to illnesses and easily succumbing to stress, anxiety, and depression.
We tend to think self-care is just taking a long bath or doing your daily face care routine, though it definitely is a part of that, self-care is so much more.
There are many types of self-care. Physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, sexual, and sensory.
Physical
You need to take care of your body if you want it to run efficiently. Keep in mind that there's a strong connection between your body and your mind. When you’re caring for your body, you'll think and feel better too. Physical self-care includes how you're fuelling your body, how much sleep you're getting, how much physical activity you are doing, and how well you're caring for your physical needs. Attending appointments, taking medication as prescribed, and managing your health are all part of good physical self-care.
Emotional
It's important to have healthy coping skills to deal with uncomfortable emotions, like anger, anxiety, and sadness. Emotional self-care may include activities that help you acknowledge and express your feelings on a regular basis. Whether you talk to a partner or close friend about how you feel, or you set aside time for leisure activities that help you process your emotions, it's important to incorporate emotional self-care into your life.
Spiritual
Research shows that a lifestyle including religion or spirituality is generally a healthier lifestyle. Nurturing your spirit, however, doesn't have to involve religion. It can involve anything that helps you develop a deeper sense of meaning, understanding, or connection with the universe. Whether you enjoy meditation, attending a religious service, or praying, spiritual self-care is important
Intellectual/Mental
The way you think and the things that you're filling your mind with greatly influence your psychological well-being. Mental self-care includes doing things that keep your mind sharp, like puzzles, or learning about a subject that fascinates you. You might find reading books or watching movies that inspire you fuels your mind. Mental self-care also involves doing things that help you stay mentally healthy. Practicing self-compassion and acceptance, for example, helps you maintain a healthier inner dialogue.
Social
Socialization is key to self-care. But, often, it's hard to make time for friends and it's easy to neglect your relationships when life gets busy. Close connections are important to your well-being. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into building your relationships with others. There isn't a certain number of hours you should devote to your friends or work on your relationships. Everyone has slightly different social needs. The key is to figure out what your social needs are and to build enough time in your schedule to create an optimal social life.
Sexual
Remember that sex, and your relationship to it, is entirely personal. So, masturbation might not even be in your sexual self-care routine. It might be that you spent 30 minutes journaling and reflecting on how you feel about sex, a recent sexual encounter or writing down a fantasy about what you would like to happen. Find your groove, and don’t worry if it looks different to other people’s idea of sexual self-care.
Sensory
Sensory modulation is the targeted use of sensory input (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound and movement) to change how you feel, and is a fast and highly effective way of addressing self-care.
At the end of the day, do what makes you happy and makes you feel connected. You only have one life, so take care of it.
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