The Importance of Self-Care

❖ What is self-care?

When we think of self-care, we see a person doing their night beauty routine in a bath with a wine cup while watching a Netflix show. Although it is true and a lot of people do that to refresh from a long day, it isn’t the only way of treating yourself. Before we start, I’ll mention that self-care is not selfish and everyone deserves the chance to treat themselves even if you believe you don’t.

So, what is self-care? This is the practice of taking care of yourself so that you can maintain a healthy mental and physical state of mind, become more productive in your day and do your best throughout the day. This embodies hygiene, nutrition, lifestyle, environmental factors, socio-economic factors and self-meditation.

❖ Why is it important?

Self-care encourages us to maintain a healthy relationship with our mind and the people around us. To give others happiness and a calming space, we must begin by feeling it ourselves. Daily stressors like school, work, social interaction, and internal struggles can cause long term damage to our health. By taking care of our body and mind through self-care, we can build resilience towards these stressors and become the best, most productive version of ourselves.

When we create a self-care routine, we are helping ourselves battle against burnout, depression, anxiety, and negative thoughts. Also, having one has been proven to help reduce these symptoms and increase concentration, happiness, reduce stress, heart disease, strokes and cancer.

❖ How do we incorporate it into our lives?

Society never really taught us how to take care of our minds, so starting a routine can be hard, and the main obstacle can be lack of time. As children we are shown that relaxing can be a form of laziness, when taking care of your mental and physical health is taking the right path towards a better future.

Self-care is not meant to be boring or draining. This cannot be forced, it must come naturally and with a lot of patience, yet for that to happen we must find a space to do it, it can be after we wake up or before going to bed, using Sunday’s to completely relax or do a little bit of self-care every day, set realistic goals that will motivate you to continue, and finding that activity that brings you back to a world of peace. This is your moment to be yourself so you decide what to do and how to do it. Even doing “small” acts like eating healthy, doing exercise, hydrating, and having a good sleep can improve your health and mindset.

❖ Examples of self-care

Physical:

● Eat a healthy meal

● Engage in exercise

● Go for a walk

● Drink water

● Practice good sleep hygiene

● Have a cup of tea

● Sit in the sunlight

● Have a nice hot shower

Mental:

● Practice mindfulness

● Take a break

● Play video games

● Listen to music

● Read a book

● Listen to a podcast

● Reflect on things you are grateful for

Social Self-care:

● Call/text a friend

● Connect with nature

● Meditate

● Engage in self-reflection