What Does Self Care Really Mean? | Char
Self-care means taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health. When it comes to your mental health, self-care can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy.
But what does self-care mean to me?
Self-care to me is giving myself time to do the things I love, feed my soul, and fill my cup. Life can become super busy, and we can almost forget to spend time on ourselves and with ourselves. Self-care has become a non-negotiable to me over the past 4 years, at least once per week I spend a full day by myself doing whatever makes me feel good, normally a Sunday resetting for the week ahead. I also make the effort to give myself at least an hour a day doing something that makes me feel good.
Self-care can sometimes have a misconception of being a face mask and a movie, while that is someone’s ideal self-care routine for other people it’s ticking off things on their to-do list. It’s different for every individual person as it’s personalised to what fuels you, grows you and makes you feel good. A book that really helped me with this is Working Hard or Hardly Working Grace Beverly
I have noticed a huge shift in my relationships, creativity, energy and view on life since making this a priority. Being able to give more to my friends, family, and career has made a significant difference as I have refilled my own cup, and given myself the time to emotionally and mentally rest as well as physically.
Types of self-care I love:
π I will walk every day with a podcast for at least an hour
π Buying a coffee and a croissant
π Spending time in the gym
π Journalling before I go to bed
π Meditation/Yoga
π Cooking
π Cleaning the house
π Working through my to-do list
If you don’t currently have self-care in your routine, the best place to start is to write a list of the things that make you happy and you love to do, then a list of the things you enjoy that keep you healthy both physically and mentally and slowly start to implement them into your current routine.