In the age of social media where the rise and grind culture is fast being the norm, it’s getting much harder to actually take care of ourselves. From feeling guilty about taking some time off of your work because you’re feeling a little burnt out to obsessing over things that are quite frankly unachievable, we could all benefit from a little self-care every now and then.
But then what does it mean by self-care? It’s way too wide a topic to just generalize into one article, so let’s talk about what self-care is and what kinds of self-care there is so that you can start taking better care of yourself today.
Let’s start by defining what self-care is and what it should be. For one thing, self-care is not about self-indulgence. It doesn’t mean that you should eat whatever you want when it is clearly not good for you i.e. when you indulge in chocolate ice cream when you clearly have a weight problem that you are trying to fix.
On the contrary, self-care is more about taking care of yourself. The goal here is not to entertain every single urge that you might have, but rather, to ensure that you are always in the best health you can be, or doing well in your career. Self-care, more often than not, is more about the simple things that you do in your daily life that not only improves your overall quality of life but also that maintains your overall outlook in life, in other words, self-care refers to the actions that you perform to take care of your physical, emotional and mental needs above all else. There are a few types of self-care, let’s talk about a few of them.
The first one is physical self-care.
This is probably one that most of you are familiar with. Physical self-care is one of the simplest to start practicing in your daily life, everything from making sure that you get enough water, food, sleep, and exercise, it’s the simpler things in life that makes sure that you and your body can keep going and won’t break down easily, in the long run, is all that physical self-care is about. It also means staying away from things that you know are harmful to your body like alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. It’s about making sure that you’re taking care of yourself when you’re not feeling like you’re in the best shape or when you’re feeling a little sick instead of pushing yourself to get through it.
The next one is emotional self-care.
This one is a little bit harder to implement into our lives. You see, emotional self-care means that we need to properly deal with our emotions. Instead of just pushing everything aside and hiding your emotions because they might be overwhelming for you, you will need to start confronting them and resolving them. Find the root of the issues that are causing these emotions and figure out what the triggers are, and solve them. Emotions are a good indicator of how you’re doing at the moment, but how you deal with them says so much more about how much you love yourself. Learn to deal with your emotions, no matter how hard it gets.
The third one is social self-care.
No matter how introverted or extroverted you are, you will eventually need to socialize with those around you. It’s an innate need and desire for us as human beings; we’re social animals and nothing can change that. This is why it’s important for you to truly fulfill your social needs. Either by spending some time with your friends and loved ones, or simply by spending some time socializing with new people online. Whatever it is that you prefer, you must speak to other people to fulfill your social needs, especially in times like these.
The fourth one is spiritual.
Regardless of what you believe in, it’s an undeniable fact that as human beings, we have a deep desire to connect with something spiritual. You can do this either through engaging in prayers of your faith, spending some time in nature, doing yoga, or simply through meditating, fulfilling your spiritual needs is not only one of the most important things that you need to consider, but also one of the easiest ones to fulfill.
The fifth one is space.
Have you taken a good look at your room lately? It’s probably a mess, isn’t it? Well, one of the forms of self-care is called practical self-care, and it mostly revolves around you taking care of the environment around you so that you can continue to live there in relative comfort. This can take form in anything as simple as making sure to change your bed sheets regularly or even to tidy out your home. It’s probably not a bad idea since we’re all stuck indoors anyway.
The sixth one is financial self-care.
This one revolves around making sure that you keep your financials in check so that you’re never stuck in a situation where you need some money but don’t have any because you haven’t been paying any attention to your financials. This can take form in anything from budgeting, saving, managing money, paying the bills, or even splurging every now and then, with the words “now and then” being key.
The seventh is work.
This one involves how you manage time in your professional life more than anything. Let’s not kid ourselves, we spend more time at work than we do at home, and with work taking up so much of our time and energy, why not manage it so that you get the most out of your workday? Make sure that you set up work boundaries so that nothing bleeds over into your personal life, learn more, have ample break time, and make sure that your work environment is positive. These things are not only great things to keep in mind, but are the things that will ensure that you keep going.
Last but not least, is personal self-care.
This one is more about spending time for yourself. Explore your hobby, learn new things, find out who you truly are, and most importantly, just be you. In the modern world where social media seems to be spreading this image of who you need to be, it’s more important than ever to remember that you’re all you need to be.