8 Types of Self Care to Help You Live Your Best Life!
Are you a care-taker of others but not of yourself? Do you have a genuine loving relationship with yourself? Are you aware of the benefits of having self-care in every area of your life? Mindful self-care is needed now more than ever before. Everyone needs to take a moment to put themselves first by engaging in things or with people they appreciate. Though you may be responsible for taking care of others, if you are down and out or burned out, you won't be to useful to anyone, including yourself. Living your best life should be your obligation to yourself. It is not an arduous task when you are conscious of the eight categories for optimum self-care. Once you are aware of the various types of self-care, it would be wise to make time to implement them to alleviate anxiety and stress.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is a form of self-love, it is cherishing oneself, putting yourself and things or situations that occur in your life first. It is not being selfish; it is being mindful and. focusing on the fact that you matter and need to do things to keep your overall health in excellent shape. Self-care may mean one thing to you and something else completely different to someone else, but universally it means to connect to and do things that appeal to making you happy. Being content if just for a moment, is great medicine for the soul. Celebrate life and commit to partaking in some mindful self-care in all if not most areas of your life.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a deliberate way of paying attention: engaging in the people and tasks in front of you as you refrain from judgement. Simply put mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment, aware of where you are and what you are doing.
Eight types of self-care you must engage in:
1. Emotional self-care
a. The ability to go within and just be judgement free of oneself. Be content with who you are, however, knowing you can always do better if you want to.
i. If something or someone is causing you to feel sad, angry, stressed, overwhelmed and they do not need to be in your life, let them go or take a time out from them. Some activities that are participated in and people that are in the surrounding cause more harm than good. You owe it to yourself to be in your best emotional state to function optimally.
2. Environmental self-care
a. The ability to be in an environment that is clean, neat, free of clutter, chaos, noise, bad energy is an ideal one to function properly. Whether home or work to be of a sound mind that is calm, caring and taking care of oneself where thinking clearly comes easy is a must and if not in the proper environment it can cause chaos instead of self-care.
3. Financial self-care
a. The ability to manage your accounts and bills without defaulting. Knowing what is coming in and what is going out on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis to avoid unnecessary stress is taking care of self. Monitoring one’s finances is helpful in avoiding needless headaches by planning for future while living in the present. Look for spending trends and notice things you can do stop spending on certain things.
b. The ability to save a dollar a day or more is taking good financial care for yourself because you are preparing for rainy days.
c. Spending on a treat every now and then to reward yourself for handling your finance’s so well.
4. Mental self-care
a. The ability to declutter the mind by clearing it from all the outside noised. Just like the environment can be a mess, so can the mind. That is why it is important to be mindful of who is allowed in your space and what thoughts are allowed to linger around in your mind. An example is to avoid the news, but especially late at night. It can cause nightmares because it is almost always filled with negativity. Another thing that falls in this category is maintaining a sharp mind. Playing word, card or online games can be beneficial here. Always learning new skills is a great way to manage your mental self-care.
i. Meditation, Coaching, Journaling, Learning something new, Reading, Playing games, Taking breaks from technology are examples of things that can enhance your mental state
5. Spiritual self-care
a. The ability to seek a higher power to heal, help or listen to us. A personal confidant on the journey of life. (chanting, praying, meditation, being in nature, yoga, cleansing space with incense, smudging, singing bowls).
6. Social self-care
a. The ability to have a healthy relationship with oneself, so you a re able to share oneself in a healthy manner is essential for social self-care. Being able to connect in a genuine, yet kind manner with others.
i. Making time for healthy relationships, not those that break you down and has you on an emotional rollercoaster.
ii. Spending time with those you care about, including pets. Reaching out in person, virtually or over the phone.
7. Physical self-care
a. The ability to take care of the temple that was given to you upon birth.
b. Engaging in things that make the body feel good.
i. Getting enough sleep, physical activity, the proper nutrition, water intake, pampering via a massage or hot bath.
8. Professional self-care
a. The ability to design and maintain boundaries so that you can have a work life balance that flows effortlessly.
i. Time management, communicating how you feel. If you are starting to feel burned out, let people know so they can help or hire where needed. The goal is to eliminate excess stress as much as possible. Take a break throughout the day. Leave home life at home and work life at work. Learn to say “no” to the things you can't afford to put on your plate and know that it is o.k. to do so without feeling guilty.
Conclusion
Self-care is not selfish; it is a necessity to keep humans living their best life for as long as possible without burning out. Everyone feels better when they are doing something that they truly enjoy doing, while having a good time doing it. Live in the moment and be very mindful of who you give your time to, this is your life. You are in control.
What is it that you want to do more of to show yourself some self-care?
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