How To Properly Use Self Care For Yourself

Self care; a really big concept, but a very crucial part of life. Something that a person needs to incorporate into their lives for themselves. Additionally, it is things of many different categories that are put in place to help oneself. 

It is a big topic, however it is something that has to be part of each individual’s lives. Why, though? Why is it so important and how can I do that? Keep reading to find out.

Practicing Self Care Is Essential

Practicing self care is taking care of yourself. It is imperative that one takes care of themselves for their own health and mental health. 

Hence why we practice self care to help us stay out of the bad zone or at least help us ease out of it. Because of this, we are able to remain sane and in a more positive mood.

Benefits Of Self Care

Any type of self care is going to give you some sort of benefit. However, different types of self care and going to help in different ways. For example: if you were to journal it will help your mental health, but not your physical health. 

In addition to the above, any type of self care is beneficial because it is something you are doing for yourself to help yourself. Subsequently, any sort of thing that helps you is worth it. 

Some basic benefits of self care are:

• Being active
• Giving you time to relax
• Self love
• Better sleep hygiene
• Self confidence
• Stress relief

Those are just a very small fraction of some of the perks of practicing self care. Nevertheless, there are so many more benefits to self care than just the list above, but many of them, like discussed, are based on the type of self care you start.

Bigger Scope

Before we dive into the types of self care, I just wanted to bring up the main driving forces of self care.

All self care is based on health and mental health. There are 6 main types of self care, but all those types root back to the 2 categories above. 

This is because self care is doing things for you, for your mental health and your overall health. It should be noted that each self care act you do has either health or mental health benefits. 

Taking care of your health and mental health is a huge part of life that I’m sure everyone knows at least a little about. Above all, self care is just an offshoot of working in  those categories, but has a focus of making sure you take care of yourself.

Types of Self Care

Emotional

Emotional self care is focused on your mental status and health. Don’t take this type as your feelings and such, it is how your brain is doing; how you are mentally doing.

Some examples of emotional self care:

• Journaling
• Practicing coping skills
• Moods
• Therapy

Physical

Your physical self care are things that keep you active and moving. This type of self care is more so honing in on your overall health, but working on your physical health, usually ends up also helping your mental health.

Some examples of physical self care are:

• Yoga
• Working out
• Any form of exercise
• Nutrition

Space

Next, space is actually a really important part of your self care. It is where you feel most comfortable and relaxed. It is a space that gives you a good environment and provides stability for yourself.

A good idea for this is creating a happy place that you can regularly go to and helps you feel content and brings you comfort. 

Some examples of space self care are:

• Your bedroom
• A special coffee house
• Stability
• A positive environment

Spiritual 

Spiritual self care is helping you look and find your inner self or your true self. It gives you a chance to be completely in the moment and strictly focusing on you and not others or other things going on. 

It is something that services you by giving you guidance and maybe even some tranquility.

Some examples of spiritual self care are:

• Nature
• Religion
• Alone time
• Meditation

Social

Another self care tool is a social aspect. Social self care is kind of like the opposite of spiritual. It is getting you out there and active with others. Forcing you to gain the socialization that all humans need in their lives, but also allowing you to remain comfortable. 

Remember, with practicing social self care it is important to set your boundaries and not overexert yourself, but still maintain the communication and presence of others. 

Some examples of social self care are:

• Going for dinner with friends
• Setting a support system
• Being positive with others
• Going to the mall or gym

Work/Finance

Lastly, work and finance. Believe it or not you can incorporate self care into work and finance to make them better for yourself. These topics are more often than not stressors for people. 

But, unfortunately, we have to pay attention to them. And so it is important to make sure you are still taking care of yourself within these topics. It is easier than you would think. 

Some of examples of work/finance self care are:

• Boundaries
• Setting a budget
• Communication
• Time management/breaks

Also, check out my shop and Etsy shop for a worksheet for keeping track of your own self care in these categories! 

Support

Now, in some of the examples above I mentioned a support system. I want to talk about this a bit more in depth because some may be wondering ‘well if it’s self care why do I need a support system?’

Self care is for you and for you only, however, you need to have people around you that are willing to help you achieve that self care. People that will back you in it and not try to tear it down.

On the other hand, you also don’t want to always rely on your support system to hold you up because then you aren’t really doing it just for you anymore. And that is the most important thing to remember with self care; it is something for you and you alone. Without a doubt, if someone keeps distracting you from achieving your self care goals they obviously aren’t part of your support system.

In conclusion, you are important and that’s what self care is focusing on. It is something that is forcing and allowing you to focus strictly on you. Because you are important and you are the main factor of your own life, so you need to take care of yourself.