The term self-care has no comprehensive definition or description which causes a lot of confusion and vagueness among readers. Rather than adopting misconstrued and half-educated guesses towards personal development, it is better to find good sources that give you a walk-through about all the facets and aspects of being sensitive towards your emotional and mental health. Most people lend help outwards and end up feeling the burn of compassion fatigue, emotional burnout and depression. These outcomes can be avoided if you give yourselves as much time and nurturing as much as you do with the other, which is what self-care focuses on. We are going to explain not only why self-care is important for your wellbeing, but also the various ways to look after yourselves from the mental, emotional and physical perspective.
Why Self Care Is Important?
If you think you will always be happy helping others around your circle and beyond, you are quite off the mark. One can only pour into others’ cups while yours is full or overflowing. You will only end up feeling drained out at the end of the day; helping others through their difficulties, going through the motions of your life and accumulating stress is only going to snap once your mind can’t take anymore. There are people who like to pour their healing touch outwards because they are trying to get away from their own problems. Thus, taking regular breaks for “me time” and introspection is very important.
Self-care routines help you stay attuned to the needs of your body and mind; your emotions are a delicate balance of chemicals that can turn quite chaotic when something isn’t right. Grooming outwards is considered an excellent habit, but tending to your heart and mental health is overlooked. People these days suffer from a wide range of mental illnesses on minor to major levels. Most of these arise out of the lack of attention we give ourselves. Spending time alone to look inwards and tending to your needs before anyone else’s might seem selfish at times, but it is necessary.
So in simple words, self-care includes any activity that makes you feel great about yourselves and comforts you. There are a lot of things that made you happy and you must've stopped doing them due to professional obligations. Taking a day for yourself and reconnecting through these happy and comforting activities won’t only resurface good memories but also help you gain your zeal back.
Self-care is a very broad concept that involves the overall wellbeing of your mind, body, and soul. If you have the excuse of simply not having the time, remember that you have more to give when you feel whole. For starters, here’s what you can do in your routine schedule:
Sensory Self-Care Methods
Your senses include touch, smell, sight, and sound. Tending to these with compassion and love can calm your mind and help you to live in the present. Most of your pain comes from either the past or fear of the future. Use the following grounding techniques to help yourselves feel safe, comforted and loved in the present.
- Walking barefoot in the grass or beach.
- Cuddling up inside a soft quilt.
- Getting a massage with aromatic essential oils.
- Stroking and grooming your pet in your arms.
- Taking a warm shower and feeling the water flow over your skin.
- Oil your hair and give yourself a head massage.
- Spend time with family and friends whom you can confide in.
Emotional Self-Care Methods
Your emotions are very delicate and need to be treated as such. Showing yourself empathy is the most important act of self-care; we often are too hard on ourselves. People who are sensitive to others’ emotions often feel drained once they listen to their problems and help them pick up the pieces. This feeling needs to be healed by tending to your emotions; you can practice a few things from the list below.
- Journaling Daily, even if it is just 10 lines.
- Listen to music that expresses your emotions and sing along to release them.
- See a counselor if you need to handle overwhelming emotions.
- Crying when you feel like you need to.
- Write down feelings to understand your emotional changes better.
- Practice mindfulness and gratitude.
- Put your creativity to good use; whether you can draw or write poetry, do it in your free time.
Physical Self-Care Methods
Your body needs a lot of attention as well. You work long hours and wear yourself out every single day; this makes an impact on your physical health if you don’t look after yourself. There are ways that you can incorporate physical self-care in your daily routine to feel ready to take on the day rather than waking up dreading your life.
- Getting a solid 6-8 hours of sleep.
- Eating nutritious food and cutting off excessive junk food.
- Exercising regularly at least for 30 minutes.
- Walk your dog or volunteer to walk sheltered dogs.
- Go hiking on a holiday.
- Dance to your favorite songs; learn dancing if you want to1
- Practice yoga and flow in the present.
Social Self-Care Methods
There are many variations of introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts that exist. For all of the human interaction on some level is important. We as social beings need the touch of a fellow human for comfort, support, and safety. Some people with high empathetic abilities or emotional sensitivity might feel drained around huge crowds and avoid places packed with people, but they all have their close friends whom they love to be around. Social self-care is all about spending time with people who lift your spirits and make you feel good about yourself. Have a group of friends who know and understand the real you. Create a loop of constant appreciation and love for each other. You can do the following activities with the people you love.
- Have dinner dates or sleepovers with close friends and spend quality time talking about your lives.
- Write letters or emails to people you miss.
- Join a support group of people who suffer from the same problems as you do, for example, anxiety and mood disorders.
- Join a group that shares your interests, such as book clubs or music groups.
- Don’t shy away from making a conversation with someone you find interesting.
- Cut off people who drain you or make you feel bad about yourselves.
By practicing even a few of the methods given above, you are ensuring that you feel uplifted, positive and confident about yourself. A regular and dedicated amount of self-care will help you to deal with emotions of insecurity, mistrust, anxiousness and unwanted aggression in due time. After all, charity and generosity begin at home. Living in wellbeing helps you understand yourselves better and come up with self-care techniques that will help you arrive at what’s best for you. We make the personal growth and mental health of our readers our priority while providing the most productive services to individuals.
