Most of us have heard of self-care but the idea of actually applying it can be down right challenging. For some there is an awareness that self-care needs to happen but their are other barriers. Such as time or financial constraints that make it pretty impossible. For others, there is not an awareness of what self-care consists of other than very tangible tasks like getting hair and nails done or taking a vacation from work. Then, there are people who have such strong beliefs and internal messages that they are actually thinking negatively about having self-care as important as it is.
We will talk about the various types of self-care and identify some easy ways to make it more applicable in your life. Self-care is important for all people, and it is needed as much as food and air. You have heard the sayings, “If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others” or “If Mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”. Well, those sayings are absolutely right and point to the fact that self-care is absolutely essential!
Physical Self-Care
Let’s start with physical self-care, because this is one that is fairly easy to recognize and attend to for most people. Physical self-care consists of engaging in activities that promote the overall physical (fitness, nutritional, etc.) health of yourself. Activities that come to mind are exercising, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep.
There are also other things you can do such as taking time to engage in fun and healthy movements, such as walking or swimming. It can include taking vitamins, sitting in the sunshine to absorb Vitamin D, or spending time away from technology. Or taking time off work when sick or taking days to have a break from work, including one day and longer vacations. It can also include maintaining routine health visits, such as doctor and dental. Don’t forget the chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage appointments that can be very beneficial. Even wearing clothes that you like and feel good on your body is applying self-care. While some of thees ideas cost money, many you can modify to be cost-free. You can exercise at home or learn to give self-massages.
Emotional Self-Care
Emotional self-care is another type of self-care that is pretty recognizable for most people. Things like spending time with others that you enjoy, maintaining family and friend connections, reading and watching movies, finding things that make you laugh all help you to engage in a healthy level of emotional self-care. Also, allowing yourself to cry or expressing outrage in a healthy way are methods to attending to emotional self-care.
You may wonder how to express outrage in a healthy way, but taking action in a social cause by marching, protesting, writing letters, or donating money are all healthy ways that allow you to express social outrage in a healthy and safe manner. It is also important to give yourself affirmations and lots of positive self-talk. Affirmations, self-talk don’t cost a thing and can happen anywhere and anytime.
Social Self-Care
Did you know that social self-care is a thing? It only seems right to include it right after mentioning emotional self-care as they seem somewhat related. Social self-care is important as we are meant to be connected with others, created for relationship. This type of self-care includes engaging in activities that deepen the relationships with others in your life, and much like some of the things mentioned above, it creates healthy feelings of the self.
Making time to go to lunch with a friend, be it building a friendship with a new found friend or reconnecting with an old pal, is one way of maintaining this type of self-care. And, if you don’t want to spend ten bucks on a lunch date you can always pack a lunch and sit together. You can also go on a date and take the time to make phone calls to other friends or family members.
Psychological Self-Care
Psychological self-care is one that I believe often gets neglected but is utterly important. Without this type of self-care, it is hard to manage your own emotions let alone help others regulate theirs. Here are a few ideas to make sure you are managing your psychological self-care: make time for self-reflection, notice your body-brain-soul (listen to your gut, pay attention to aches, hear your inner thoughts, consider your beliefs), write a journal, read literature that is unrelated to work, or engage in mentally challenging puzzles.
It is important to minimize stress and allow yourself to receive from others. A big area that many of us, especially females, struggle with is saying no. But saying no is actually a form of psychological self-care that helps you have more time and space for doing the needed self-reflection and mind work!
Spiritual Self-Care
Spiritual self-care should also be maintained, even if you do not follow a set religious belief system. Some ways that you can do this are to spend time reading devotionals, in prayer or meditation, singing praises or other inspirational songs, and reading the Bible. Being involved in a spiritual community is important as well. Be it a small group from church or another group that meets with a similar set of beliefs that will encourage you.
If you are a Christian, it is probably starting to seem like the Bible talks a lot about self-care by now. If you feel that you are not religious, you can practice things like being open to inspiration from various places. Cherishing your hope and positive outlooks. Or being aware of non-materialistic things. Identify what is meaningful to you and pay attention to it’s importance in your life. Also, be open to not knowing everything.
Practical Self-Care
Another self-care type that I find so essential and often over looked is practical self-care. Just think about how practical self-care actually allows you to have self-care in other areas. Practical self-care includes activities you peruse in order to create room for other core aspects of your life and to help alleviate stress. Practicing in this type of self-care could include making a budget and periodically managing it. Taking professional development classes to improve a skill on the job. Or cleaning your work area so that you can be more focused. Taking the time to organize an area will go a long way in retrieving what you need when you need it. It is almost like by beginning to have good practical self-care, you can then start having better self-care in the other areas.
Practicing Self-Care
While practicing self-care isn’t always easy, it is important for us to try and accomplish meeting our own needs in each of these areas in order to reduce stress. If you are not sure how you stack up when it comes to self-care, there are several free quizzes that can be found by searching online. You can also begin to monitor yourself and give yourself points based on the items listed in each of the categories.
If you see that you are doing really well in one area but not in another, find a way to strike a balance. This may include scheduling time for a walk in your calendar. Setting your phone on do not disturb during your sleep hours in order to get rest. Or making a to-do list of practical items that need to get done in order to become more focused, on-task and efficient with work. If you find yourself struggling to make changes or having negative feelings towards applying self-care, it may be beneficial to reach out to a professional for some brief counseling to improve in this area of your life.