September marks Self-Care month and this is a great reminder that looking after ourselves is incredibly important. So often, we put the needs of others first. Whether it is our children, our partners, our employers or friends, we tend to put their needs above our own. The blog below explains the importance of self-care, why you taking care of yourself helps others and gives some great tips on how to incorporate it into our busy lives.
So what is self-care?
Self care is “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress”. In other words, it is about making sure that we consider our own needs, both emotional and physical. It is also about taking deliberate action to do activities to take care of those needs.
Why is self-care so important?
By incorporating self-care into our everyday life, it helps produce positive feelings. This, in turn, helps to improve our self-confidence and self-esteem. Self-care is important to help improve mood and reduce anxiety. It also plays an important part in promoting healthy relationships.
Self-care also has a positive impact on the other people around you. By taking care of ourselves, we are in a much better position to take care of others.
Examples of self-care
- Prioritising good quality sleep
- Eating a healthy and nutritious diet
- Getting fresh air and exercise. As well as being good for our physical health, it is also very beneficial to our mental health
- Using meditation and mindfulness techniques.
- Spending quality time with people you love
- Understanding that it is ok to say no to things you don’t want to do.
- Setting yourself rules (which you are allowed to break if you change your mind), such as not using screens before bed, eating your dinner at the table
- Choosing a relaxing activity, such as a long bath with essential oils, reading an enjoyable book or going for a walk in the woods
- Choosing a fun activity, such as dancing around your living room or watching a comedy
- Finding your inner child and letting them loose!
- To read more about improving wellbeing, please see my previous blog post: https://craftybynature.biz/improving-wellbeing/
Your mission if you choose to accept it!
I challenge you to write yourself a list of a dozen or more self-care activities that you enjoy doing and then choose at least one of them to do each and every day. If you write a to-do list, add the self-care activity to that to do list to make sure you remember to do it. Please let me know how you get on!