Living a healthy life is more than what you eat for dinner or how much you exercise throughout the week. It revolves more around how you treat yourself, and how much attention you deserve. Self-care is the simplest way to kick start your journey to a healthy mind, body, and soul.
What is self-care? Self-care is any activity we participate in to take care of our mental, physical, and emotional health. It’s a simple theory that improves mood and anxiety. This mindset can also help create better relationships with others and ourselves.
Self-care is not something we force ourselves to do or something we don’t enjoy doing. It is not a selfish act to do better for ourselves or consider our own needs before anyone else’s. It is merely something that helps us grow and give love to those around us. It is permission to take a break from everything going on around us and sit back and relax. You might think that we should already know that we need to do all those things, but self-care is something that is overlooked by many people.
Over the last few years, I’ve realized that I was not giving myself as much attention as I was giving everyone else. My mental and emotional health was being affected daily, and the more I didn’t do anything about it, the worse it got. That was around the same time self love and all the various ways to take care of ourselves had begun to go viral all over the world. So, to improve my well-being and focus more on myself, I put down the pencil and learned new ways to give myself the attention I needed.
Here are 10 simple self-care habits you should take part in right away:
- Be aware of your mood swings, short temper, or feeling drained, overwhelmed, or angry. Use these as warning signs that you may need some alone time and self-care.
- Make time to exercise. Take care of your body and that doesn’t mean become a gym junkie. It means, make time for yourself to move and move some more. You should make sure your body is strong and healthy.
- Make time for yourself and value it. When you make time to simply be with yourself, you give yourself time to relax and reflect on how your body may feel. It gives you some time to recharge and focus on yourself for a little bit.
- Understand you aren’t being selfish when you tell someone “no.” You may feel obligated to say “yes,” but when you don’t, you’re often putting yourself and your priorities first.
- Practice self-compassion. Self-compassion can go a long way. Learn to be gentle and forgiving of yourself, and care for yourself as much as you care for others. This is a great way to visit your own unique, loving, and self-supportive lifestyle.
- Let go of toxic people. I learned the hard way that letting go of toxic people, no matter what, is super crucial. If someone is genuinely destroying your mind with their actions or words, they have to go. No one deserves to be put down or be manipulated to stay.
- Get eight hours (or more) of sleep. Sleep is an important part of your physical health. Even with our busy schedules, we should make sure we have time to get the rest we know our body needs. Not getting enough sleep can affect your ability to cope with stress, be productive, and function properly. If you can’t get the right amount of sleep, don’t underestimate what a simple 30 minute nap can really do!
- Cry it out. We all need a good, body shaking cry every now and then, and when we cry, we’re getting rid of our bottled up emotions and letting it all out. Sometimes we forget that it’s okay to cry.
- Try face masks and a bubble bath. I know, I know. This habit is one of the most popular ones. Taking a bath, after a long day, and throwing on a face mask is a relaxing activity we all can do—its pure bliss!
- Practice deep breathing and meditation. Deep breathing is the best way to lower stress, get rid of tension, and relax. Sit or lie back and take a few deep breaths in through your nose, and out through your mouth, and let relaxation take over.