If you examine the world around you, you will get to know that the term self-care is often confused with health care. The word health care is derived from self-care and self-care is the broader version of health care. Other times, people take self-care as a person who is only self-centered but it is altruistic in that a person prioritizes himself but does not leave others in jeopardy. If you have heard such terms in your life that’s not your fault but I am here to correct you.
Over the past few years, people have started to search for self-care more tremendously. The reason is, in our generation being aesthetic is trending these days and self-care is considered to be aesthetic nowadays.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is a term defined as taking care of yourself by prioritizing yourself over anyone else, it can be in terms of your mental health, physical health, emotional health, and choosing anything you find good for yourself. Instead of thinking for others that what makes them happy and doing errands for their happiness, self-care is choosing your happiness over others. A person who loves you in the true sense will be happy when you get happy, not when you satisfy them.
Everyone feels anxiety and depression in their day-to-day life so there is an evident need for self-care to soothe your mind and relax your body from all such problems that interrupt your peace of mind and it helps you to cope with unnecessary stress in your life. Self-care helps you to be the true person you truly are and it polishes you to be the best version of yourself.
Why Self-Care is Important?
According to World Health Organization (WHO), people who take care of themselves and prioritize themselves are happier, they can easily deal with their diseases and live a healthy lifestyle.
- You will be more confident.
- You will gain Self-belief.
- You can take your own decisions.
- Your inner peace will elevate.
- You will be free from necessary stress.
- You will listen to your body.
- It will give a healthy edge to your relationship.
- You will live more ecstatically.
- You will have a strong connection with yourself.
- It will allow you to prioritize your important tasks.
- It will balance your life.
- You can better control and manage your emotions.
- Your mind and body will be in harmony with each other.
- It will evolve your mindset.
Types of Self-Care: There are several types under which self-care can be categorized but there are several types that are discussed below:
Physical. As directed by the name physical self-care is related to activities that improve the quality of your physical health such as your body appearance, and your body health. Doing your physical self-care allows you to live more happily and live the life you want to live. It improves the quality of your life and you will have better knowledge about your body and have a strong connection with it. In that way, you will listen to your body. Physical self-care improves your mood and hence helps in better social interactions a person who is not physically fit can’t enjoy the benefits of this world and will always accuse himself of his disabilities. It is one of the basic self-care which we have been following since our childhood. Some symptoms that are described below are indications that you need to start caring about yourself physically:
- You are always tired.
- Always Sleepy.
- Lack of energy.
- Loss of balance.
- Not eating food properly.
- Lack of exercise.
It, mostly, includes the things we do frequently. This is how we can take care of our physical health:
- Doing skincare.
- Doing Exercise.
- Taking care of your Sexual Health.
- Doing yoga.
- Sleeping well.
- Brushing daily.
- Doing stretching.
- Getting yourself hydrated.
- Avoid Alcohol and drugs.
- Practicing hygiene routine.
- Eating a healthy diet.
- Doing your hair.
- Doing meditations.
- Taking vitamins regularly.
- Massaging your body.
- Get diagnosed.
- Engaged yourself in intentional weekly grooming.
Mental. Mental care is related to activities that improve the quality of your mental health such as improving your stress level, anxiety attacks, etc. It is also related to mental illness and curing them. In my opinion, a person’s mental health should be for himself. It is an indication that you are taking care of yourself and prioritizing yourself. A lot of other areas of life can be settled and began to improve after your improved mental health. Some symptoms that are described below are indications that you need to start caring about yourself mentally.
- Feeling Down.
- Anxiety Level gets higher.
- You are alone even in a crowd.
- You start thinking about your flaws.
- You are negative most of the time.
- Insomnia.
- You start fearing out of nowhere.
- Low Energy.
- Excessive mood swings.
Here are some ways you can care for yourself mentally.
- Doing Exercise Daily.
- Hydration.
- Improving Sleep Quality.
- Reading Books.
- Practicing Meditation.
- Practicing Yoga.
- Taking Breaks and Travel.
- Exposing Yourself to Nature.
- Avoid Un-necessary stress.
- Give Yourself Time To Heal.
- Listen to Yourself.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Focus on Achieving Goals.
- Stay Connected.
- Stay Positive.
- Start setting your Goals.
- Prioritizing your Goals.
- Less Screen Time.
Emotional. Emotional care is related to activities that improve the quality of your emotional health. Emotional Health is dependent on others. If your friend circle is supporting you and giving you equal attention your health will be great but if you feel deprived of these your emotional health gets devastated. In that case, you can choose the circle that improves your emotional health. Emotional care is essential as it makes you feel ecstatic, valuable, complete, and more satisfied. You feel more accomplished and consider yourself an important part of society. Some symptoms that indicate that you need to start taking care of your emotional Health:
- Unsatisfied with your life.
- You are more frustrated.
- You are more hurt.
- The loneliness.
- You start feeling tired of your life.
- You are more burdened than before.
Here are some solutions that will help you to be more stable emotionally.
- Giving yourself more value.
- Surrounding yourself with appropriate.
- Prioritize Yourself.
- Take Breaks to stabilize yourself.
- Be Mindful.
- Giving attention to people equally.
- Accept yourself with flaws.
- Meet People openly.
- Ask Questions to better understand people.
- Do not be judgmental.
- Make a positive bond with your fellows.
Spiritual. Spiritual care is related to activities that improve the quality of your spiritual and religious health. This area of your body is related to all the rest areas of your life and helps deal with any sort of illness and grief in your life. It allows you to find the true meaning of your existence and your life. It allows you to think beyond yourself and ease you. Some examples are that you are a spiritually weak person and have to improve yourself:
- You have become Hopeless.
- You have become impatient.
- You lack self-discipline.
- You do not fear doing anything wrong.
- Difficult Sleeping.
- You are afraid of several things.
- Question about the existence of God.
- Hopeless about your existence.
- Questions why always this happened to me?
- There are certain beliefs that you abandoned?
Here are some solutions that will help you to be more stable emotionally.
- Doing Yoga
- Doing Meditation.
- Try to motivate yourself.
- Cultivate Empathy.
- Be Compassionate.
- Practice Forgiveness.
- Be good to yourself.
- Pray Daily.
- Follow your religion.
- Become closer to your God.
- Listen to religious podcasts.
- Know your worth.
- Know your life purpose.
- Sleep Properly.
- Strengthen your social relationships.
- Give time to yourself.
Intellectual. Intellectual care is related to activities that improve your intelligence and thinking capacity. Practicing intellectual care improves your knowledge and wisdom in certain areas of life. It tells how fast a person can resolve an issue or cope with his problem. It helps you to broaden your mindset and in that way, your mindset will evolve. You began to think deeply and start exploring the world with a different perspective. You can better analyze the situation and solve the problem. It will allow you to think beyond the boundaries. Some ways are described below on how you can better enhance your intellectual health:
- Reading a book
- Participate in Debates.
- Improve your learning skills.
- Become a critical Thinker.
- Expose yourself to different situations.
- Be creative.
- Reading magazines.
- Listening to podcasts.
- Start writing what you think.
- Be curious about everything.
- Try new things.
- Be mindful.
- Get enough rest.
- Learn a language.
Social. Social care is related to activities that allow you to be social and helps you to interact with more people. Man is a social being. He cannot survive alone in this world. To survive he has to build social relationships. A person who is maintaining social relationships is social. There is the term extrovert used to define this situation. A social person is more prone to enjoy being with others and enjoys social interactions. There are several benefits of being social for example, a social person tends to be more ecstatic and satisfied, it helps him to build collaborative and cognitive skills, he will live a longer life and is far away from the feeling of loneliness, there will be fewer chances for him to fall prey for anxiety and depression. Some indications to let know a person is anti-social are:
- You are more depressed.
- You find it difficult to start a conversation.
- You become confused whenever someone interacts.
- You feel you are unnecessary.
- Stress due to workload.
- You have isolated yourself from others.
Here are some of the solutions which will help you to be more social and most of your problems will be solved.
- Appropriate Body Language.
- Start the conversation.
- Set goals for being social and achieve them.
- Push yourself out of your comfort zone.
- Talk to strangers.
- Always pick the phone up.
- Participate in debate.
- Be the host.
- Be a volunteer.
- Check your insecurities and eradicate them.
- Be positive.
- Act Properly.
- Interact with more social people.
CONCLUSION. No matter what field you belong to whether you are a student, a job holder, a job seeker, or an entrepreneur it is mandatory for you to take care of yourself and take some time out of your busy schedule and invest in yourself. These skills ultimately reward you in the way you will be satisfied with your life. It allows you to love yourself and the people in your surroundings. What do you think about how self-care helps you to be the person you always wanted to be?