“An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly.” – Unknown
Selfcare is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health, wellbeing and happiness. It should be the top priority for every human being, to care for oneself, but somehow we tend to forget to or somehow after we have children we start feeling that caring for ourselves is a sign of selfishness.
Why is that?
The truth is, It is not selfish to love yourself, to care for yourself, and to make your wellbeing and happiness a priority. It is necessary and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it.
Selfcare should be part of our daily routine, just like getting up in the morning and brushing our teeth is. It should be an ongoing process because it is vital to our overall health.
Selfcare is the foundation to our wellbeing, just like selflove is key to a healthy relationship with ourselves and others.
There are 6 kinds of selfcare:
Physical, emotional, psychological, Social, spiritual and practical Selfcare.
Physical Selfcare: Activities you do that improve the well-being of your physical health.
Examples: Making healthy food choices to nourish your body. Taking a walk outside or taking a yoga class. sleeping eight hours per night, drinking water to stay hydrated, etc.
Emotional Selfcare: Activities that help you connect, process, and reflect on a full range of emotions.
Examples: Seeing a therapist, writing in a journal, creating art, playing music, having a heart to heart conversation with a friend.
Psychological Selfcare: Any activity the stimulates your mind or your intellect.
Examples: Reading a book, solving a puzzle, playing chess, going to a museum or an art gallery.
Social Selfcare: Activities that nurtures and deepens the relationships with people in your life.
Examples: Brunch with friends, going on a date, making time to call your parents regularly.
Spiritual Selfcare: Activities that nurtures your spirit and allows you to think bigger than yourself. Spiritual selfcare does not have to be religious, although for some it is.
Examples: Meditation, yoga, going to a place of worship, be in nature, dedicate time for self-reflection, etc.
Practical Selfcare: Tasks you complete that fulfill core aspects of your life in order to prevent future stressful situations.
Examples: Creating a budget, taking professional development classes, organizing your home, declutter etc.
These are just some examples, there are more types of selfcare but I feel that these ones cover a lot of important elements that are crucial to our health and happiness. Selfcare is not a reward or something we do from time to time, it should be ongoing, something we prioritize and make into a habit.
Starting a selfcare plan begins with the following:
Step 1: Give yourself permission to start taking better care of yourself. Allow yourself to make your health and happiness a priority. Taking care of yourself is a smart choice because it helps prevent burnout and reduces the negative psychological and physical effects of stress, anxiety and other negative feelings.
Step 2: Identify what areas you want to focus on, what do you want or need more of in your life? What brings you joy and energy and fills you up?
Things to focus on may include nutrition, sleep, hydration, exercise, or having some quiet time with your own thoughts? Ask yourself “what actions make me feel better?”
Step 3: Make a list or an action plan with the things you want to include in your selfcare plan.
Step 4: Start prioritizing a little bit of selfcare every single day and make sure that you put yourself at the top of your to-do list or mark selfcare time in your calendar.
Action Step This Week: Create your Selfcare Action Plan and start doing the stuff on there one by one.
Comments