What is Self-Care?
“Self care is anything that do you for yourself that feels nourishing.” – Marniamsellem PHD licensed psychologist
She also says self care is something that can be relaxing or calming, intellectual, spiritual, or practical or something you need to get done she says…
The International Self -Care Foundation also includes health literacy as a pillar of self care, meaning any steps you take toward better understanding health information to make appropriate decisions about your health & wellbeing counts as self care too.
This is why self-care is all the steps that you take that tend to your physical & emotional health in ways that you are best able to do so.
Self-Care is essentially anything you do to take care of yourself. The misconception created about self-care, that self care is something you do when you have a lot of money, or have a lot of time, or that self-care is a luxury; these are all incorrect.
Its time to debunk the myth that self-care is a luxury! In todays society, now more than ever, people are stressed out, anxious, fear-mongered; people feel really scared & uncomfortable in their own skin.
Many people do not have outlets to self-regulate, and we feel very restricted by our culture, or society, or schedule or demands of our job and our family. It seems common place to feel as though you fall last on the totem pole of what needs to get done, and at the end of the day, if you want to live a healthy & whole life, you must prioritize self-care.
We hope that todays post helps you understand that self-care in not a luxury, it is an absolute necessity. If nothing else, think of self care as a self regulation mechanism. By doing things to care for yourself, you learn healthy outlets for releasing any pent up aggression, fear, anxiety, or anger.I invite you to spend some time with your perception of self-care. If up ’til now you’ve thought of self-care as a luxury, or something only rich people can enjoy, journal about the thoughts that come up regarding self-care and starting a practice of self-care. Understanding your current perception or relationship towards self-care is the first step to creating a healthy relationship with the concept and how you care for yourself.
Emotional self care, such as self talk, or weekly baths, or even just saying no to things that cause unnecessary stress in your life. This gives you permission to take the pause that you need and take the time that you need for yourself to figure out what is going to be most beneficial for your self care.
Physical self care is another aspect or category of self care & these include prioritizing sleep, prioritizing good nutrition, creating an exercise routine, practicing good hygiene. Anything that falls under the physical body and how you care for yourself falls under physical self care. So choosing nourishing foods over highly processed ones or trying to break bad habits like drinking too much alcohol when you feel anxious. Instead, learning how to pick things like talking a walk or doing yoga; switching out old habits that are not for the best benefit of self care into those that are.
And there is also spiritual self care. This could be anything from meditation to spending time in nature to attending a religious service. Absolutely anything that involves enhancing or uplifting your spiritual or religious connection to god or source; these are aspects of spiritual self care. Just like the practice of wholeness that we teach & practice at Olotita, wholeness is not just of the body, or just of the mind or just of the soul, it is all of it.
So by incorporating these different aspects under these different self care categories you in turn are building the foundation for creating that wholeness that you seek.
Ask yourself these questions…
Are you getting enough sleep at night?
How many hours of sleep are you getting?
What is the quality of sleep you are getting, meaning are you waking up during the night?
Are you having bad dreams?
Do you wake up feeling tired?
What is your diet like?Are you happy with your nutritional regiment?
Do the foods that you are eating give you energy and give you vitality? Or do you feel sluggish after you eat?
Ask yourself how you feel regarding your relationship to your body; are you happy with the way you look in the mirror?
If you are congratulate yourself, and continue to feed those good habits to yourself. If you look in the mirror and you aren’t the happiest with the way you look, write that down.
These are very simple things to change, by simply changing the way we approach our own personal self care.
Last but not least, ask yourself if you are getting enough time for you. That could be anything from a small hobby like building model airplanes, or getting your nails done, or meeting a girlfriend for a glass of wine, to planning that vacation, to working that home based project, or even starting some small business.
Guys it could be absolutely anything, what are the things in your life that you feel you don’t have enough time for that you wish you could? This is your homework for this week as you reexamine your relationship toward self-care. I also invite you to begin implementing self-care practice by using one of our free tools from our Wholeness Youtube channel: A Grounding Meditation Video https://youtu.be/LA7rZ_VNbbM
