Self-care has become one of my absolute favourite topics to talk about…so let’s talk about your self-care!
To start I think it’s important to talk about the fact that self-care is incredibly individual. What is self-care for me may not be relaxing for you, so it’s important to find activities that you consider self-care and focus on prioritizing those things in your life. Although I will share some ideas for self-care with you today…take what resonates with you and leave what doesn’t when you create your self-care plan.
When we talk about self-care it’s also important to look at the different areas of self-care. Physical self-care includes things like nutrition, health, and sleep and this is often the first thing that jumps to people’s minds when they think of the term self-care, but there are other areas we want to consider as well. Psychological self-care includes things like stress management, meditation and mindfulness, while social self-care looks at relationships and how you are interacting with those around you. For many people they are doing well in certain areas of their self-care while other areas need a bit more attention so starting by looking at each area can be helpful to find the gaps.
Take a moment to consider the following areas of self-care
- Physical Fitness
- Nutrition
- Sleep
- Stress Management
- Meditation/Mindfulness
- Self-Talk
- Social Support
- …and more
Start by jotting down what you are already doing in each of these areas for self-care and then follow that up by considering what things you might like to include but aren’t currently doing. You will likely find that you are excelling in some areas and other areas need work. This is common and perfectly normal. This is also a good time to consider what other areas you may want to focus on. There are so many different areas of self-care and things that you can focus on so choose your priorities based on what works best for you.
But Ashlee…what should I do for self-care? Like I mentioned self-care is super individualized, but here are some different self-care ideas that can help get you started
- Walking
- Running
- Lifting weights
- Group fitness classes
- Getting to bed early
- Eating healthy
- Staying hydrated
- Practicing meditation/mindfulness
- Massage
- Hot bath/shower
- Reading a book
- Gratitude
- Spending time with friends
- Spending time alone
- and so much more
Once you have decided what areas you will focus on and what things you are intending to implement in those areas, the next step it to figure out how you are going to fit those things into your lifestyle. We could do a whole separate post on behaviour change and forming new habits but I will keep it somewhat brief here. When implementing changes to our habits and behaviour (which you are essentially doing as you implement your new self-care practices) it’s important to match these changes to your lifestyle. For example if you intend to add weight lifting to your self-care routine but you don’t have a gym membership and don’t have access to weights at home then weight lifting isn’t going to fit into your lifestyle super easily. Instead you might start going for a walk might provided you have access to a safe area to walk.
It’s also important to start with small changes. You may have made your self-care wish list and you added 20 things to it. That’s okay…but don’t try and implement all 20 of those things all at once. Start with 1 or 2 and as they become routine you can start to look at adding in other things.
Over time you can build a self-care plan that you are proud of and one that fills your cup but take your time to make adjustments. Remember that self-care is a deeply personal thing and you may find that certain things work for you and others don’t. You may also find that some things work for a period of time and then they don’t. This is also okay too…re-evaluate your self-care plan consistently and adjust as changes happen in your life. You will likely find that you need to constantly adjust your self-care plan and that is perfectly normal. Allow yourself the flexibility to do so when you need it and focus on a self-care plan that will benefit your overall health and well-being.
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