Self-care means knowing what it is you need to feel your best. To feel happy and healthy in life. And then trying to find ways to do those things more consistently. Which is not always easy, but doing our best. I've been working on adding more self-care into my life for a while now. And what I've learned is that there are actually different kinds, different types of self-care, that together help me feel more balanced. So today, I want to share with you 10 types of self-care to help boost your health and happiness.
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| 10 TYPES OF SELF CARE to help BOOST your health |
10 ways to take care of yourself
Understanding these different kinds of self-care has been very helpful for me in learning to know which kind I need when. And to incorporate them into my life more consistently, through a variety of different self care activities.I'm also going to talk about how to know if you're doing enough in each of these 10 areas and where you could perhaps improve. So if you can use a little.help with self care in your life, then this article will definitely be very helpful for you.
The first type of self care that I want to talk about today is one that I think most of us will know about,and that is physical self-care. So how we take care of our physical body. And the things that are included in this category are the foods that we eat, are they nurturing our body? Are we drinking enough water?
But also things like not skipping brushing your teeth and cleaning your face before you go to bed. Getting enough sleep. Moving our body enough, getting enough exercise. All those things. The reason that this is first on my list is that I feel like it is both a really good one to start with, as well as perhaps the most important one. Because if we don't take good care of our body, it's going to be quite hard to do the rest of these self care activities.
Because we won't have the energy.how well we take care of our body, just has a really big impact on how we feel. So if you're really just not getting enough sleep, or if you're mostly eating junk food,or never drinking enough during the day, it's gonna be yeah.... you're gonna feel will that affect quite strongly, probably. At the same time, I feel like once we start placing a bit more emphasis on taking care of our physical body, we might feel the effects of that pretty quickly. And it's going to motivate us to keep going, because it is a short-term result. So that is why this can also be a really good one to start with.
Now when it comes to this category, I think there's a pitfall to be too much of a perfectionist. Or to have really high standards or to compare ourselves with others. And there's really no need for any of that. I personally just try to do my best, most of the time. I use the 80% rule for this. So I try to make the healthier choice at least 80% percent of the time. And that way, it's not overwhelming. And it still feels doable and manageable for me. And this is a big category. So sometimes my food might be very healthy, but I'm not really exercising that much. Or I'm really good with dental care, but I'm not really getting enough sleep. These things happen. That's fine, that's life. It is about the overall balance.
Next category is inspirational self-care. And I also like to call this self-care for the soul. So things that lift you up, things that give you energy and things that just make your heart feel happy. This might be art, music, travel, creative hobbies. For me, books is a really big one. It could be social activities. Meeting new people, going to parties, maybe dancing or just spending time with people you love. It is important for extroverts, but also for us introverts. For some of us, it might be spiritual activities. Just things that spark something in you and make you feel more alive. Just as healthy food is essential for us.physical body,
I feel like this stuff is important for our heart or our soul, or however you want to call it. And if I haven't had anything like this in a while, I will notice that things are just feeling a bit stale. Like there's no inspiration, no positive Juju. And I just need something beautiful to nurture that side of me. So if you feel like this, ask yourself what's something that inspires you? Something that makes your heart feel aglow. And seek that out more.
Number three is internal or mental self care. So self care for the mind. I believe that the mind and the body are connected. And mental health is just as important as physical health. So if there's anything that is causing you mental stress, this kind of self-care can perhaps be very helpful for you. So mental self-care. Some things that I would include in this category are for example meditating, really good for mental hygiene. Perhaps even doing some inner work, visiting a therapist or a life coach for a while, journalism,
whatever works for you.I also think that a big part of mental self care can be forgiving yourself for past mistakes. Letting go of negative self talk in your head. Learning to love yourself and accept yourself for who you are. All easier said than done, I know. But if you can do these things for yourself, I think these really can be one of the best things that you can do when it comes to feeling your best in your everyday life.
Next is your immediate surroundings. Now I think when it comes to the impact that our surroundings have and our well-being, it might vary a bit from person to person. For me, it's a really big impact. For you, maybe that's different. But I think there is at least something to it. impact on how we feel for most of us. So in that way, taking care of your immediate surroundings can also be a really good way to take better care of yourself. So a really big one here is of course cluttering. Or at least making sure that the clutter doesn't get out of hand. For me,
I find that just being in my own spaces is very calming, because there is nothing here that distracts me or stresses me out or makes me feel badly. Because all of the things that I decided to keep, are things that I use and love. So that's I think, one of the most important reasons of why I love minimalism so much. Also cleaning, tidying, things like that. Tidying, we are really good at.
We always tidy up before we go to bed so that we wake up in a tidy space the next morning, which is very calming and very nice. Cleaning, I have to admit we are not the best at. It's something that I tend to procrastinate, because I just really don't enjoy it. So here again, we use the 80% rule. And another thing you could think of is having a relaxation zone somewhere in your house. And this is great especially if you live with others who maybe are not minimalists, or who are a bit messier, or louder maybe, I don't know, to have a space in your home where you can retreat and recharge. It doesn't have to be a whole room. It can also be a small corner. Or the bedroom, having a rule that the bedroom needs to be free of clutter. Something like that.
Next is exploration self care. This is a kind of self-care that's great for not getting stuck in a rut. So whenever I start to feel like things are becoming a little stagnant or stale, or like I want to switch things up somehow, then this is what I like to do. So going new places where you've never been before, just walking around and exploring. I did that recently, it was really nice. I took the train. Perhaps trying new recipes. Finding new hobbies or interests.
Which is actually one of the things I like about Skillshare, because you get to try so many different things. Meeting new people. I've actually met new people in the last couple of weeks and had some really cool conversations, it was really nice. Things like that.And of course, a really important one restorative self care. I feel like it's all well and good, but when it comes down to it, sometimes what we just need is rest. And downtime.
We need to heal and recharge our battery, and do as little as possible. We have a really important one every day, which is sleep. I feel so differently if I've had a good night's sleep, as opposed to a bad night's sleep. So if there's anything that you can do for yourself to improve your sleep, I feel like that will always be worth it. But also think about the little breaks during your day or during your work day.
Are you expecting yourself to wake up, be productive in the house, commute, work for eight hours, commute back, make dinner, be productive in the house, all without taking any breaks in between? We are not built for that. So try and see if you can include some little breaks into your work day. Also things like deep breathing exercises, meditating, Yin Yoga. Anything that you can do to cool down your nervous system. And some yeah restorative activities, are a great form of self care Something else that most people will probably associate with self care are pampering activities.
Which can be very nice. Taking a nice hot bath or shower. Giving yourself a Mani-pied or face mask. Perhaps even getting a massage or going to the spa if you have the means to. This is nice, because they are kind of like practical things that you can do for yourself to show yourself that you care. But more importantly, I think something else that can fall into this category is just being nicer and sweeter with yourself in general.
Like maybe going easy on yourself when you make a mistake, or allowing yourself to not finish your entire to-do list if you're feeling really tired, and just identify one or two things that are not as important, and then just read a book for 30 minutes instead. If you can be more accommodating to yourself, I think that's also kind of a form of pampering. And this is also something that I'm trying to work on recently,
because I tend to be very hard on myself. And set very high expectations for myself, even if I don't feel good. So if we can try to do this more, it's nice in the moment, but I feel like it can also have long-term results if we can do this more. If we can know the difference of when to push ourselves, when to give ourselves little kick in the butt, and when to just take it easy on ourselves.
Next is cathartic self care. By which I mean, things that provide you relief in a way. So kind of like sometimes you feel a lot better and lighter after crying, that feeling. We tend to build up a lot of tension during the day. I know I do. And it can be very helpful to know what is what.activities you can do to help release some of that tension. So for me, it's a good workout. Nothing too crazy, because then I'll stay tired for three days in a row.
But just something that gets my heart rate up, gets me sweaty, where I only think about the workout and nothing else. For others, maybe it's going for a run.Or going to a boxing class. Or hiking and camping in nature. Just something where afterwards you just feel lighter and like you released some of that tension that gets built up. I feel like there's a very obvious example here that could also work in the sense, but I don't know if I can talk about that on website...
Number nine is preparation. So by this I mean things that you can do to make things easier for your future self. If you're someone who feels a little disorganized, or who often loses stuff around a house, or if you feel like you're running behind, then this kind of self-care can be very helpful. Because that feeling can cause a lot of stress. So if you can just get a bit more organized, and plan things beforehand, and make preparations, then this can really be very helpful for you to feel calmer and more balanced overall.
Making a healthy breakfast for yourself the night before. Or packing your lunch to take with you to go to work the night before. Maybe write a to-do list the night before. Or already look up like when you want to leave, or which train you want to take, or which route you want to take to work, things like that. Just getting a bit more organized in general.
What I like to do is take a quick look at my schedule on Monday for the week to come. And then if I can already see some things come coming up where it's going to cause an issue, or where I can already see like oh that's too close together, or I won't have time or energy to do all of that, then I could already like cancel some things or reschedule some things in advance. And it has really helped me a lot.
And lastly, expression. I think it is very important part of self care to have a way in which you can talk about your feelings and your emotions and your your thoughts, without keeping them bottled up. So whether that is talking about them with a friend or your partner or a therapist, or writing about it in a journal of some kind, whatever works for you. Just get them out. It's never good to keep things bottled up. Because it causes stress. And it also tends to blow things way out of proportion in my experience.
And also, talking things through can oftentimes provide me with some kind of new insight that I wouldn't have gotten if I had kept everything in my own head. Because either it's me talking all of these things through, hearing myself say them, getting some kind of new realization. Or just some advice from the other person. I just got back from taking a month-long holiday. It was really nice. It flew by incredibly fast. I had a great time. And it was long overdue. It was very necessary. I have experience with burnout, I didn't want to burn out again.
So I'm happy that I took that action. I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to put myself first like that, and my health first like that. And I do feel a lot better. I realize that I'm not there yet. I don't feel like 100% well, for a lack of a better word. But I do feel a lot better. And I've also had some really valuable insights when it comes to self care and self acceptance, in my case. And just things I need to change with regards to how I view work and productivity.
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