Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! So since I have covered quite a lot of content based on “self-care”, I thought I’d create a blog on why it is so important to self-care. Here are 5 main reasons why It is so important to self-care.
1. Helps you to take a moment to regain focus
Sometimes when we’re stuck at something or we find something difficult such as a complicated math problem or trying to build a table you bought from Ikea, its best to walk away from it and come back once regained focus. It can be easy to start something and then as it gets difficult, you become more frustrated and then feel like you want to give up on it. Giving up is not the answer, just taking 5 minutes to breathe and calm yourself down can bring you back and help you focus better on the task you’re doing.
2. Prevents “burning-out” yourself
Now as many of us will agree, we’ve all been there, where we push ourselves to the point that you can’t take anymore so you give up. Self-care helps you to avoid reaching this point. Like I have mentioned in one of my previous blogs, you can use an app called “Let’s Meditate”, which is free to download from Play Store, although if you are an Apple user, you may need to pay £0.99 to download it – Give it a try and see how you feel.
3. Increased self-Knowledge
When you practice self-care, it requires you to think about what you really love to do. The exercise of figuring out what makes you feel most passionate and inspired can help you to understand and get to know yourself better. As well as this, it can help create a spark of change in the career you want to do, or a reprioritization of abandoned hobbies.
4. The type of self-care you need
One of the most excuses people use for ignoring their bodies and mental health is they don’t have the time. However, there are many different self-care practices, that don’t require anything especially difficult or a planning system. The trick to achieving these practices is to find a type of self-care practice that you enjoy doing and fits with your daily life. Once you begin to add this into your daily routine, it’ll become a “out of the zone” place where you can take the time to rethink and look after your body and mind.
The types of Self-Care
Sensory
Sensory self-care is all about helping to calm down the mind.
When you are able to have the time to feel every little detail of sensations around you, it becomes easier to live in the present moment. When you feel this present moment, it can help you to let go of any resentments or anxieties you may have about the future.
When practicing sensory self-care, you should consider all your senses: touch, smell, sound, and sight.
Some people are more responsive to one than the others, so its best to take the time to think which one of the four senses might be for you.
Here are sensory self-care examples using one or more senses:
o Touching and cuddling up under a soft blanket
o Going to the beach and smelling the sea air, as well as the wind blowing in your face
o Watching the flames flicker on the candle
o Feeling the water on your skin during a bath or shower
o The taste of having a small piece of delicious chocolate
o Walking barefoot on the grass
o Playing with your pet, feeling their fur or their scaly skin
Emotional
When it comes to our emotional health, one of the most efficient tips is to make sure you fully engage with your emotions. When facing emotions head-on, this can help to tackle down on stress.
Some of you may hide your feelings of sadness, anger, or depression in order to not look weak, but in reality, it's healthy to feel them, accept them and move on from them.
Emotions can neither be “good” or “bad”, meaning you are not blameworthy for the emotions you feel; only how you react in accordance with it.
There are many ways you can better yourself through self-care such as:
· Keeping a journal, being honest with how you feel
· Seeing a therapist to help you with your personal development
· Write down all your feeling words to expand your emotional vocabulary
· Let yourself cry when you need to – its okay to cry
· Deliberately encourage yourself to laugh with old memories or funny videos
· Sing along to a song which best expresses your current emotions
Spiritual
You can self-care spiritually, even if you’re not religious. Spiritual self-care isn’t just about believing in a deity, it’s applicable to atheists and agonistics as much as to religious people.
Spiritual Self-Care is about feeling your value and the things that really matter to you. Self-care tips for depression will often stress that developing a sense of purpose is vital to your recovery, by doing a variety of activities such as:
o Attend a service, whether its religious or humanistic
o Read poetry
o Walk in nature and reflect on the beauty you are surrounded by
o Make a daily list of 5-10 things that you are grateful for
o Be creative through writing, art, music or something that you love
o List 5-10 things that make you feel alive and how to better place these things into your daily lives
o Say affirmations that ground your sense of self and purpose
o Go on a trip with the sole purpose of photographing things that inspire you.
Physical
Self-care wouldn’t be much if you don’t look after yourself physically. Forms of physical activity are vital not only for your bodily well-being but also to help you let off some steam.
You may think that there isn’t much fun about going to the gym or going for a run, but that’s thinking far too narrow about your physical self-care. Instead, broaden the concept by thinking about the following:
o Dancing to a favourite song
o Doing yoga. Even if you haven’t done yoga before, it is easily intuitive
o Join a class and learn a new sport
o Go running with your dog
o Cycle through the countryside
o Go for a walk
Moreover, physical self-care is as much about the things you do as the things you do:
a) Only nap when you really need to. Just 20 minutes will make you feel mentally and physically refreshed.
b) Say “no” to invitations when you’re too tired to enjoy them
c) Don’t overdo yourself to follow your exercise routine when you’re run down or unwell
d) Commit to at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night
5. Social
Social Sefl-Care can look different for everyone, depending on if you’re an introvert or extrovert. Although, connecting with other people is necessary for happiness for a large group of people.
Having people to talk to helps you to understand that you’re never alone. This also gives a sense of being fully “seen” by others, and this can help us combat loneliness and isolation. You can do a number of things to help you do things with people who make you feel good, such as the following:
o Reach out to someone who you haven’t spoken to in a while
o Stop socializing with those who undermine you
o Join a social club to meet new faces
o Strike up a conversation with someone interesting
5. Enhancing your self-esteem
When you regularly take the time to be good to yourself and meeting your own needs, you send yourself a positive message to your subconscious. Specifically, you treat yourself like you matter and have intrinsic value to the world. This can go a long way toward discouraging negative self-talk and your critical inner voice.
Well, that about wraps up the 5 main reasons why its important to self-care. If you loved reading this, make you like it and comment on what your favourite part was. And if you’re new, please subscribe to receive the latest updates on my blogs, and I will catch you all next time.
Comments