When it comes to self-care, we think it’s all about dressing really nice and elegantly, wearing makeup, eating healthy, etcetera.
We focus too much on that and neglect other types of self-care that exist and are imperative, such as social self-care, mental self-care, etc.
Yes, dressing elegantly boosts confidence, as wearing makeup, and going shopping too. Expensive restaurants are really great, but self-care is not just about self-love.
Self-care is a deliberate act of looking after oneself in all aspects of life. Self-care is a process and a lifestyle of being physically, mentally, spiritually, socially and emotionally healthy and productive.
5 types of self-care
1. Emotional self-care
This involves working on your emotions, if you’re a melancholic type or hot-tempered type, that’s something you have to work to work on. Emotional self-care is being able to regulate and manage your emotions when dealing with difficult situations.
How to practice emotional self-care
- First, pay attention to the way you feel, and talk to yourself about why you feel that way. (No you’re not going to look crazy).
- Engage in positive talks/reading through the help of a mentor/therapist or read books related to helping with your emotions
- Journaling – Writing down how you feel and why you feel that way is another step forward, cause it helps brings solutions and understanding.
- Meditating – Engage in meditation to ease your mind and know what’s in there.
2. Physical self-care
This is the most common and often mistaken as “self-love”. This has to do with being physically productive. Taking 30 mins to exercise is a form of physical self-care, using skin care products, going for a walk, dancing, shopping sprees, and spa days are forms of physical self-care.
How to practice physical self-care
To engage in physical self-care, you just have to do things that make you happy, calm, and at the same time productive and vital to your health.
3. Mental health
This has to do with listening to your brain, having a relationship with your mind, and understanding what it needs and how it feels.
If you’re having trouble getting out of bed or you feel tired all day, it is pretty obvious that you’re not in a good mental state. Your mental state controls every aspect of your well-being.
How to practice
We all need mental stimulation such as:
- Engage in a new hobby
- Read self-motivational books
- Listen to a podcast
- Writing /journaling
Basically, anything that helps your mental state positively is what you should do.
4. Social self-care
As humans, we are programmed to connect with people, but social self-care is the most underrated type of self-care lifestyle. People are often fond of withdrawing themselves at every slight discomfort, sometimes it’s great to do that but to an extent.
We are often based on the ideology that self-care is all about self-love and there is no need to be around people if all they do is offend you, and we neglect the fact that self-care is a necessity.
Trust me, no matter how much you have, if you don’t have friends, you’d just be lonely. So when building yourself, don’t forget to socialize.
How to practice social self-care
- Start by creating/ rekindling relationships, by calling your mom, dad or siblings, not just to say hi, but to actually gist and catch up.
- Going on a date with a significant other
- Having a night out with your friends.
Also, social self-care is not only about socializing but also scrutinizing your social life, if you have a toxic relationship with people you need to drop.
5. Spiritual self-care
This is all about connecting with your soul, depending on your religion. If you’re a Christian or Muslim, how best you have a relationship with who you believe in, helps in all aspects of life.
For Christians, a relationship with God is the best thing that can ever happen to you. How would you feel if your significant other or a loved one, comes to you only when he/she needs something from you?
That’s what people do to God. God created us for companionship/fellowship with him and since the fall he has been trying to get us back to fellowship with him.
How to practice spiritual self-care
- Start by establishing a relationship, through prayer – Prayer is communication with God and communication is never complete without feedback. We have misinterpreted the meaning of prayers and how to pray all along. When praying, you’re the one talking/requesting, but when studying your Bible, it is GOD talking to you. If you want to connect with your soul and know who you really are, spiritually, communicate with your creator to know.
- Having a vision board concerning your spiritual life.
Why is self-care so important?
Self-care is important in so many ways:
- It helps in self-improvement, physically, financially, academically, mentally, professionally, socially and spiritually.
- It eradicates anxiety and depression
- It reduces stress and frustration
- It increases one’s happiness
- It eliminates the chances of sickness
- It boosts your self-esteem.
