Are you feeling anxious, depressed, and burned out? If yes, then it is time you embark on your self-care journey. Self-care is involving in activities that you enjoy doing and, at the same time, maintaining your general health. Several types of self-care include physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial self-care.
Physical fitness and a proper diet are essential to maintaining good health, but working on your mental, emotional, and social health is also crucial. Many people put themselves at the end of their priority lists, which puts them at risk of feeling overloaded. Everybody needs some me-time. Below are great self-care ideas you can adopt.
1. Get enough sleep
The recommended minimum sleep time for adults is seven to nine hours. Many adults lack enough sleep, which overloads the brain as it does not get enough time to rewind and relax. This is because they put their work above themselves and work all night and get just a few hours of sleep or no sleep at all. No matter how much you have, it is essential to ensure that you get enough sleep for at least four days a week. Avoid being on the screen an hour before bedtime, as this disrupts your sleeping cycle.
2. Eat healthy and balanced diets
It is funny how many parents wake up early to prepare breakfast for their families but forget themselves in the name of being in a hurry. Such parents should note that insufficient essential nutrients can lead to feeling physically and emotionally burned out. Though ordering takeout may be a great time-saving option, ensuring it does not become a habit is necessary. Overeating junk poses a risk of obesity and other health complications, hindering your work and damaging you physically and mentally. Eating a lot of vegetables ensures your body receives enough nutrients to fight against diseases and strengthen your immunity.
3. Start personal journaling
Journaling is known to help with emotional self-care as it can help you process and sort out your feelings. It also helps analyze and understand your emotions over a while. Personal journaling has proven helpful to people battling depression, anxiety, and stress. As journaling becomes a daily activity, you can track your emotions over time, and then you can identify what triggers various emotions and learn how to control them. Depending on your preference, you can start a gratitude, objective-setting, and self-love journal. Journaling is easy as you require at least five minutes to reflect on your day-to-day activities and emotions.
4. Connecting with friends
Connecting with friends helps ease your feelings as they offer emotional support by listening to your problems and offering advice and possible solutions. Those without close friends can go out with people who make you happy. If there is not enough time to meet for coffee, you can schedule regular video and phone to talk about your well-being and future goals. This satisfies you as you are sure some people love you and are rooting for you.
5. Regular tracking of your finances
Keeping track of your finances helps you identify the areas you need to reduce your spending. Poor financial planning can negatively affect your living standards, which can, in turn, affect your emotional and mental health. Financial self-care ensures that you do not lose track of your financial goals and helps you attain short- and long-term goals. You are also sure that you have enough money to spend and save. Financial tracking does not have to be a daily activity. You can schedule a 30-minute financial monitoring on a specific day.
6. Take a leisure walk
Physical self-care does not necessarily have to include gym classes; instead, you can take leisure at no specified location. Other than physical self–care, leisure walks are also linked to improving your mental state by helping your brain relieve stress. Many people have adopted a sedentary lifestyle where they lack physical activities due to their occupation, binge-watching, and unhealthy lifestyle choices. It does not matter whether you visit the gym early in the morning; what you do for the rest of the day has a more significant impact than the hours you spend in the gym.
7. Meditation
Did you know that yoga is a type of meditation? Well, it is. Meditation focuses on an open attitude, helping the brain focus, relaxed breathing, a quiet setting, and a comfortable position. Meditation helps enhance mental awareness, lower blood pressure, and heart rate, reduce negative emotions, increase patience and tolerance, and improve sleep quality. You can visit this page: https://restanddigest.com.au/blogs/self-care/self-care-ideas for meditation packages.
8. Engage in your hobbies
Many people are so engaged in their occupations that they forget they used to have activities they used to do for enjoyment. Hobbies are activities that can help lighten your mood, especially when going through a rough time in your life or at work. Rather than sleeping off the weekend after a long week of working, you can take that time to enjoy your hobby. If you are unsure of your hobbies, try activities like painting, swimming, and weaving.
9. Go to the spa
You may think enjoying a rose-petal bath is enough for self-care, but it is not. You should visit a spa for a full body massage, skin exfoliating, manicure, and pedicure. A full body massage helps relax the stiff muscles caused by remaining in the same position for a while, making you feel relaxed. Manicure, pedicure, and skin exfoliating help keep your skin clean and glowing, which allows your sense of self-worth.
10. Binge-watch your favourite show
After a long week of exhausting work, you sit at home and watch your favorite. Since this is not an everyday activity, it does not significantly impact your physical health. Watching your favorite helps your brain produce dopamine, which makes us feel excited and happy. Prolonged watch time is not advised as it can lead to disconnecting from others, negatively affecting your social awareness. Hence, to ensure it is beneficial, setting a time limit or making it a social thing where you invite friends is crucial.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.
