- Make doctor and dental appointments when you need to
- Drink water and keep hydrated
- Sleep as best as possibly can
- Get outside even just for 10 minutes
- Exercise regularly
- Nurture the important relationships in your life
- Set boundaries that you are comfortable with
- Know that ‘no’ is a complete sentence
- Plan pleasurable activities
- Keep up with hobbies and things you are passionate about
- Check in with yourself often and ensure you are spending your energy on the right things.
Essential self-care
Self-care is a term that is thrown around a lot by people and mainstream media, whilst most places offer good advice it can often be misconstrued and misunderstood. It is one of the pillars for mental and emotional well-being. I am hoping to discuss what self-care entails and offer a bit of guidance on how to practice it for better well-being.
First of all, what is self-care? Simply put, it is defined as the practice of protecting your happiness and taking action to preserve your own health. It sounds straightforward enough, albeit a bit vague. How do you protect your own happiness? How do you preserve your health? To me, self-care is made up of the smaller, basic daily actions we take upon ourselves to ensure we remain in a state of good health and of a more optimistic mindset. The actions are the building blocks for a solid foundation of being mentally. emotionally, physically, even spiritually, well.
Acts of self-care can fall into certain categories of; physical, social, mental, spiritual and emotional. It can be difficult to find a balance of ensuring all your needs are met but it is possible. Below are just a few prompts of how to practice self-care:
