Many of us are often saddled with lots of responsibilities that we actually forget to actually pay attention to our personal needs. So creating a self care plan may seem unrealistic because of your busy schedule. Yet it is important for you to understand that you need to take care of yourself.
Self-care is also an essential aspect of stress management. The fact is self-care is important as it ensures that you are taking good care of yourself mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Self- care plays a vital role in helping your body, mind and soul to stay active; it helps to keep both your mental and physical health in check.
Basically, self-care is engaging in activities that ensures that your total wellbeing is well taking care of. Self-care is looking after yourself. It could be just taking conscious steps at prioritizing decisions and actions that makes you feel good about yourself or merely embracing self-care practices that can help you relax.
For some people, self-care means taking a hot bath or visiting the spa and for quite a number of others, self-care is mainly just taking a break from all the hassles and bustles of life.
It is relative to understand that there is no specific self-care activity that fits-all as what works for the other person might not resonate with you; people have different things that make them feel nice and cared for. It is very imperative to discover a personal self-care practice that works best for you.
Learn to Cultivate Self Care Practices
As you cultivate a quality self-care practice, you get to connect with yourself and understand what you really want out of life. Taking time out to engage in self-care activities will help you to develop an excellent ability that can enable you handle situations appropriately since you are not depleted by emotional and physical exhaustion. Practicing self-care has many benefits; it does not only have positive impacts on your physical health but it also goes on to boost your productivity by relieving you of stress and enhancing your self-esteem. Here are few benefits that you can get from engaging in self-care:
- Higher level of Productivity: since self-care necessitates that you slow down and focus more on what is more important which is you; becoming more productive is certain. When you engage in self-care, you are more likely to engage more in activities that are beneficial and important. You get to take breaks that helps you unwind thereby recharging you to perform well.
- Alleviates Stress: utilizing different self-care practices like a hot bath or massage can help you reduce stress and it can ultimately help you get rid of illness and fatigue.
- Self-care routines can help your body decompress thereby boosting your immune system. When you are relaxed, you are also able to think and plan towards other activities and goals that you desire to achieve.
- Helps you to maintain a good relationship with yourself: you are the most important person in your life and this is why it is very important for you to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself. Self-care activities are very necessary as it can help you have a good relationship with yourself. When you are relaxed, you are able to reflect on different thoughts and feelings; this can help you to feel good about yourself thereby boosting your emotional health. You are able to understand what you want. You get to create a relationship with yourself that helps you understand and appreciate yourself better. It is much easier to work through problems when you are meditating and reflecting; this can only be possible when you practice self-care.
- Improves Physical health: although staying active and a balanced diet is necessary for a good physical health, self-care routines which allows your body to relax can also help to improve your physical health. Relaxation are known to be active in enhancing energy levels, this can help to prevent chronic stress from having damaging effects on your health. Self-care can also help to prevent depression.
- Boosts Positivity: it is certain that you will feel good about yourself when you practice self-care. Whether you choose to meditate for just few minutes or just engage in a hobby, you will definitely feel good about yourself and this will give you a positive feeling that can help boost your self-esteem and confidence. Most self-care plans are guaranteed to make you discover that you deserve to feel nice and good about yourself and the more you engage in them, the more you are going to stat appreciating yourself more.
- Helps to Build Healthy Relationships: the more you take care of yourself and appreciate yourself better, the more you are probably going to treat others better. Simply put, when you are happy and relaxed, you are more likely to treat others nicely. Engaging in self-care do not only allow you to help yourself but also helps you to help others as well. Feeling good about yourself will help you see the world in a better way and it will go on to assist you in having healthy relations with others.
- Enhances Creativity: research has shown that most people come up with the best ideas when they are having some alone time with themselves. Taking part in self-care activities can uplift your energy thereby enabling you to think better and clearer. When relaxed, the mind has a better chance at creating great things freely.
How to Adopt Great Self-care Habits
There are two different types of self-care; there is the self-care that is absolutely meant for you alone and the other type of self-care that involves you being selective and alert to what you allow into your social circle to make you feel great about yourself.
Personal Self-care: this circles around taking care of your body, soul and mind. It involves you taking conscious steps towards taking care of your spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing. Taking care of your body covers a lot of aspects; from eating healthy to exercising regularly. It involves you refraining from unhealthy diet and getting out of your comfort zone to get a healthy body. Taking care of your mind can entail you adopting the right mindset and appreciating what you have. This will help you to attract a positive attitude and would in the long term boost your self-esteem. Taking care of your soul however means that you are paying uttermost attention to your spiritual wellbeing; this do not necessarily mean that you have to be religious, it could just be simple acts of appreciating nature or learning how to maintain emotional stability.
Social Self-care: we are by nature communal beings; we need others to survive. This type of self-care entails you taking care of things around you. It requires that you surround yourself with people that have a positive impact on your wellbeing. Social self-care allows you to be selective about who you interact with because how they make you feel can have great impacts on your wellbeing . Have social bonds that make you feel happy and encouraged, interact with people that share the same ideas and interest with you. According to a study, spending time with family and friends can promote good health.
How to Develop an Effective Self-care Plan
A good self-care plan is very vital for your total well-being. It helps the body to manage stress and maintain a great level of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health. Identifying the best self-care plan that suits your personality and well-being will in the long run assist you in building a sustainable positive self-care practice. When you have an effective self-care plan, you are able to understand the kind of self-care routines and practices that you should indulge in to prevent exhaustion and burnouts. When you identify these activities, you will be able to design a personal self-care plan that specifically works for you. Here’s how to create an effective self-care plan:
- Identify what self-care is to you We all have different needs and different ways of unwinding. Identify what self-care is the most effective for you. It may be taking a walk and getting outdoors, or curling up by the fire with a good book. It may be surrounding yourself with good friends, taking a bike ride or soaking in a long, hot bath. Whatever it is, learn to define self-care for you as an individual so that you can better take care of yourself.
- Create a List of what makes you Happy:; To assist you further in designing your self-care plan; make a list of the things that makes you happy.; You can group these activities into different categories like physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social self-care. Write in each category the things that you enjoy doing and that can enhance your well being. These activities do not necessarily need to take up a major part of your day it could be simple things like just taking a short nap or pausing in between tasks to take a deep breathe. Activities like taking up a new hobby or getting a manicure can also be on your self-care plan. When creating a list of the stuffs that makes you happy, make sure they are activities that you can either do weekly or daily.
- Self-Care Assessment: There are six; important categories to consider in your self care. They are the mind, body, emotions, spirit, work, and relationships. List activities that you are engaged in regularly either every day or week within those areas. Write down the practices that you are currently doing to maintain self care and what new strategies you like to begin. For example, for your physical self care you would take time off when sick or exercise and eat better.
- Identify the Barriers: after making a list of the activities that can engage in to pay more attention to yourself, the next to do is to identify the roadblocks that may keep you from actualizing these self-care practices. Make a note of how you can shift those barriers to keep your plan going. Examine your lifestyle behaviors or how you deal with stress in your life. For example, when you are under stress, do you overeat or under eat, do you have any outburst or withdraw from people. As you become more aware of the negative self care behaviors, go ahead and write them down. These can be some of the things you can improve on, and help you manage with stress in the future. The more you learn about who you are, what you want, how you act or think under stress, is going to help you to take care of yourself. Most importantly it going to maintain and enhance your well being. If you discover that those barriers are difficult to remove, you need to adjust your plan. Take small steps and choose something easy to start out with.
- Stick to the Plan: don’t just identify self-care routines, you need to actually do them; practice these activities regularly. As a worker, you can’t perform effectively if you do not stop to recharge, it is very essential to have a holistic plan that can help to keep you sane and productive. Commit to engaging the activity regularly until it becomes a habit, something that is simply a normal part of your life.
- Assess your Progress: make it a point of duty to assess yourself at the end of every month. Check how much progress you’ve made with the help pf the self-care plan. You will know if your self-care plan is effective when you able to navigate through stress and work better. Ensure you are real with yourself, if you discover that you are not making much progress, maybe you need to improve on your strategies and be more committed.
Amazing Self-care Ideas
There are many activities that can engage in to practice self-care for your mind body and soul but as stated above, only you can decide what works best for you. However, here are great self-care ideas that you can utilize to take care of yourself:
- Prioritize Sleep: sleep is very essential for both mental and physical wellbeing. Incorporating sleep into your self-care routine can help you deal with stress. Taking short naps when you feel overwhelmed is a great self-care idea and it can do wield great benefit for your health.
- Stay energized: keeping your energy levels up is an important factor of self-care. When your energy levels are up, you are more likely to feel great about life; it is also an easy way to release stress and tension. You can partake in physical activities like yoga and swimming; just make sure it is what you enjoy.
- Treat yourself: the whole point of adopting self-care habits is to feel good about yourself and relax. It is very important that you pamper yourself when practicing self-care. You can visit the spa, prepare a nice meal, wear a luxurious perfume that you like or just cuddle up in bed to enjoy the coziness of your favorite bedding’s.
- See the Outside: sometimes, just inhaling fresh air can help you relax and feel positive. Instead of staying glued to the screens all day, go outside. You can take a walk or just enjoy the beautiful view of nature.
- Get Creative: art therapy is known to be effective with dealing with mental issues like anxiety and depression. Getting creative can help you express yourself and feel relaxed. It relatively feels good to create things because you want to and not because you need a kind of approval. You can write, paint or even start a garden.
- Declutter: there’s always a great feeling derived from having an organized space, it often makes one feel clean, happy and fulfilled. Organize your space and get rid of the junks, clean out your closet and organize your shelves. This is also a great idea for practicing self-care.
The most important thing to understand about practicing self-care is that it requires you being determined to actually do it. Self-care won’t automatically kick-start itself unless you intentionally create time for it. The benefits of self-care are numerous. Make sure you utilize a great personal self-plan as it will ultimately help you to enjoy and value life better.
