Sometimes the term Self Care can be a little intimidating. Because not everyone likes the face masks, bubble baths, or essential oils that typically come to mind when this term is mentioned. These things might actually turn some people away. We wanted to break self care into a few more general categories, and give generic tips for each that make reaching self care possible for anyone with any kind of tastes or preferences.
Rather than writing self care off for only the people who enjoy spa days, let’s dive into the four categories of self care each person can find ways to improve at least a little in.
Spiritual Self Care
This category has to do with the internal nurturing of yourself. It’s all about allowing yourself the space to process, heal, and work through things internally. It’s also centered around staying true to yourself, and knowing who you are at your own core.
Ask yourself, how often you are doing these things, and how can you improve your spiritual self care. And spiritual self care doesn’t mean you have to be religious. It is about how you are growing your spirit, whether that be through religious means, or simply going outside for a bit.
Here are some spiritual self care actions you can take:
- Spend time in nature
- Meditate
- Pray
- Make time for reflection
- Appreciate impactful art
- Act according to your own morals and values
Social Self Care
Humans are social creatures, there’s no denying that. While some of us may be more prone to social outings than others, and some people identify as extroverts, while others identify as introverts, we still have a core desire to be in community with others. This is a huge part of us, and it shouldn’t be ignored.
Where are you succeeding in this area? Where could you be improving? Oftentimes, we feel so busy, we push our social agendas to the back burner and prioritize other things. Even though it usually doesn’t feel like work, socializing is still something to put high on the agenda list whenever we can.
Social Self Care even comes in many forms, such as:
- Meet new people
- Spend time with people you like
- Have stimulating conversations
- Ask others for help
- Keep in touch with old friends
- Spend time alone with your partner
Psychological/Emotional Self Care
Another form of internal self care is our psychological and emotional self care. Expressing ourselves is a huge way to work through problems and let go of some anxieties and fears. It’s important to give our emotions the voice they deserve. While we shouldn’t let them be all-consuming, they are a part of us and there are many healthy ways to express them.
How are you allowing your psychological health to get the space it needs? Do you feel your overall well-being could be improved by expressing yourself and your mental state more often? This is a category people often suppress, but we’re here to tell you it is okay to feel.
We’ve listed a few ways to improve your psychological and emotional self care:
- Participate in hobbies
- Get away from distractions
- Learn new things
- Go on vacations, or if time doesn’t allow, day-trips
- Find reasons to laugh
- Talk about your problems
Physical Self Care
This category is the most obviously external one, and although it may seem like the easiest to regulate, it is very often overlooked. Taking care of your body is so important to all the other aspects of your life and can cause the other categories to fall behind if your body isn’t being nurtured.
Ask yourself, how you can listen to your body and hear what it needs. Reward yourself for the things you are doing well, and try to learn what you could be improving on to better your overall quality of life.
Here are some ways to improve your physical self care:
- Eat healthy foods
- Take care of personal hygiene
- Exercise regularly
- Get enough sleep
- Do fun activities
- Rest when sick
Did these lists spur any ideas? We hope they’ve encouraged you to find ways to take care of yourself in all four of these categories. Remember, baby steps. Everything good takes time.
And future you will thank you for it.
Contact Evolution Wellness today, and we’ll come alongside you to get you started on your healing process.