What exactly is self-care? Self-care is defined as the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health and well-being.Self-care is so important for so many reasons. The most important reason, for me, is that it helps reduce my anxiety and sends a sort of reboot signal to my brain. Self-care reminds you, and others, that you and your needs are just as important as others and their needs. It helps build a positive relationship with yourself, which in turn can help positively impact your relationship with others. It helps boost your confidence and your self-esteem and self-worth. It is SOOOOO vital for a healthy and happy life.
Okay, so now that we know WHAT self-care is and WHY it's so important, let's discuss the different types of self-care, and how to implement them.
Physical Self-Care
Physical self-care is anything that physically impacts your body. Most people assume this means some kind of crazy workout routine or a 50 mile run. No. Trust me. No. This can be something as simple as eating fruit for breakfast instead of that triple stack of pancakes slathered in butter and thick syrup. It could be taking a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood after you get off of work in the evening. It could be yoga or Thai-chi, or just stretching a little before bed. Of course it CAN be doing a crazy workout routine or running 50 miles. The important thing is that you find something you enjoy. It it's a chore or your feel like it's some kind of obligation, it totally negates the positive aspects of it. You want to enjoy it, and you want to feel positive and happy while you do it. For me personally, I like to take a walk in the neighborhood behind my apartments after I drop my child off for school. It's quiet and peaceful and I am able to take my time, listen to some music I enjoy if I choose, or use that time to be mindful and take in everything around me. I love looking at the different architecture of the houses, the different decor people choose for the outside of their homes, the flowers, the birds, the trees, the fresh air. It's very peaceful and beautiful.
Emotional Self-Care
This is all about becoming more aware, and getting in tune with your emotional side. I have come to realize that my anxiety has caused me to become extremely insecure, and because of that, I bottle all of my emotions up. I keep them all buried deep inside of me because I am afraid of what others will think or how they will react towards me. This is obviously detrimental. Emotional self-care is so important because it helps you work past issues like this to become more mindful and open to experiencing and sharing these emotions instead of keeping them bottled up. Good examples of some emotional self-care include keeping a journal, meditating (this becomes easier the more you practice mindfulness), and even expressing your emotions through things like music and art, like painting or drawing or doing craft projects.
Spiritual Self-Care
This does not necessarily have to do with religion, unless you want it to. I, myself, and not a religious person, but am highly spiritual. Spiritual self-care is all about feeding your soul. When you soul is full, your life is full. When your soul is happy, you are happy. Your soul is the deepest part of you. It is your whole essence, so if you can feed it with positive things, you will feel such an amazing shift in your life. This can be meditating, going out into nature, volunteering at an animal shelter, feeding the homeless, etc. My spiritual self-care has always been working towards bettering the lives of the mentally ill. Having a mental illness, and having a father who suffered from severe paranoid schizophrenia for almost 3 decades, and having worked in the mental health field for 10 years has really opened my eyes to the stigma that I, and they, have faced. It has shown me just how low on the political totem pole mental illness is, and because of that, there have been huge budget cuts and a lack of resources. It feeds my soul to be able to help those who otherwise would not be able to help themselves. Find things that make you feel good, make you feel positive, and keep doing them.
Intellectual Self-Care
This is one of my favorite forms of self-care. The purpose of this type of self-care is to feed and challenge your mind. Reading, crossword puzzles, building things, learning new skills, studying new material, and researching fun topics are all types of intellectual self-care. Another things I enjoy doing in this category is watching documentaries that intrigue me. I LOVE learning about anything historical, and I love watching documentaries about history and things from the past. That and reading are my two favorite types of self-care.
Social Self-Care
Having social connections are important to human beings. Being social is human nature. But, there are varying levels when it comes to comfort in social settings. I, myself, and not comfortable in social settings. I do not enjoy large crowds. I don't even enjoy small groups of people. I am most comfortable by myself, or with no more than 2 to 3 people. Any more than that, and my anxiety kicks up, and I usually have to excuse myself after a few minutes. Some people find large groups and a loud environment energizing and pleasing. Social self-care looks different for all of us. For me, it's being able to go visit my best friend and her family. The kids play, we eat and watch movies and visit with each other. It always makes me feel better. For some, social self-care may be going out to a club and dancing for hours with a large group of friends. For others, it may be going to a coffee shop and striking up conversations with strangers. Whatever your level of comfort is with the social world, do more things that meet your social needs.
Sensory Self-Care
This isn't a type of self-care that many think about, or at least don't realize that they are participating in it. This type of self-care includes things like burning your favorite candle because you love the smell so much, or taking a hot bath with your favorite bubble bath. It could be savoring your hot coffee with french vanilla creamer. It can be listening to your favorite music, or walking barefoot in the warm grass in the spring. I have auditory, visual, and tactile hypersensitivity, which is a fancy way of saying that certain sounds, sights, and textures overwhelm me. So this is a very important type of self-care for me. Sensory self-care, for me, looks a lot like carrying ear plugs with me, finding darker areas to situate myself in, taking hot showers multiple times a day, keeping my Velcro key-chain with me all the time (the sound of Velcro separating is soothing to me haha), keeping hair ties with me because I hate hair touching my neck, and wearing rings on each ring finger so I can twist them with my thumb when I start to get nervous.
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