Self-Care: Expensive Luxury or Daily Necessity?
Nowadays we live in a world that never stops turning, never sleeps (or sleeps very badly) and never stops evolving. Pushing through a hamster wheel of errands, to-dos and never ending duties has become the high speed of our daily lives. Always on the go, creating, growing, living. While the feeling of adrenaline kick in our veins can be oh so satisfying and addictive for people, who have a grand vision and think that there are simply not enough hours in a day to make it a reality, it can be daunting for our mental and physical state of wellbeing long term.
So today, let us tune in for a moment, block the world out and talk about self-care — a term we hear so often, yet not always know what means and how to apply it. Is it an expensive luxury only few can afford? Or is it a daily necessity? What is it really and why is it so important to emphasize? - We uncover answers to all of these questions and more.
What Is Self-Care?
The good old dictionary tells the truth as it is: self-care means practice of taking an active role in protecting one's own wellbeing and happiness in a healthy and self-compassionate manner, in particular during periods of stress.
There are a few crucial key words in this one, simple sentence - “active role”, “protecting”, “wellbeing and happiness”. Ideally, self-care should be an active choice on our side to preserve (or perhaps even improve) our joy for life, and most importantly our health. In reality, time devoted to this task is often overlooked and compromised. While nurturing, taking care of and expressing our love to people around us seems so easy and natural (empathy urges us to put others’ needs before our own - hats off to all of us), taking time off to be yourself and standing up for yourself in times of need is not always so obvious. However, if we sincerely wish to positively impact the people and reality around us, we need to take care of ourselves first. How, you may ask? Well, read on.
Self-Care Starts With A Healthy Body
Taking care of your body is the first step to falling in love with yourself. Physical health is the ultimate treasure - if you are healthy, you are truly rich. Our body provides a tangible form for our mind and soul, and luckily it is our choice, whether our essence lives in a temple or a ruin. Self-care is treating your body with respect it deserves, improving and prolonging its ability to serve you.
Let’s try a simple exercise. Take a few seconds to pause here, close your eyes and tune your senses onto your body: feel the rhythm of your breath inside your chest, notice your heart beating regularly, observe any sensations arising within you. Do not try to control any of it, just observe and become aware. Imagine just how much life runs through your body to keep you going: the body is an indescribably complex and utterly unique machine that allows you to experience your life to the fullest.
Taking care of our physical state of being is, for some, expressed in treating yourself to a lovely massage or investing in a luxury skin care product routine. And while it can be a truly rejuvenating experience, the basics actually hide in the more simple actions, accessible to everyone. Here are a few examples.
Self-care rituals for the body
Prioritise eating fresh, nutritious, healthy foods
Set aside time to plan your meals for the week ahead
Do your best to drink 2L of water a day
Make sure to get 8 hours of sleep each night
Go for a walk
Stretch every morning or evening, whatever fits your day better
Schedule a day for pampering
Commit to exercising for 30 min a day
Take some deep breaths when you get overwhelmed
At the end of the day, your body is your home, you live your life in it. Take care of it in the same way you take care of your house - declutter, maintain, make it a beautiful and cozy place to be. You body loves you, carries you through life - show it some love back.
Who You Are Is A Reflection Of Your Inner World
Another place you spend a lot of your time in is your head, your mind. Yet, when it comes to taking care of our mental health, most of us are still work in progress. We can somehow better comprehend the importance of strong physique, healing any misbalances along the way, but what about the wounds we cannot see on the outside that tear us apart on the inside?
Mental health is a castle on its own that has to be built with solid, unshakable bricks and looked after every day, urgently repaired when needed. Our mind is a powerful, although fragile constellation that has to withstand the trials of time, yet requires love and support to endure. Unfortunately, in the majority of today’s society mental health is still perceived as a hushed tabu, leaving people feeling uncomfortable with facing and dealing with issues that need to be resolved.
If you can take just one thing out of this article, take this one with you - what is going on inside your mind matters, as who you are to the outside world is an inevitable reflection of who you are inside your head. Your feelings matter; the experiences you are going through and their effect on you matter; your wellbeing matters. If you broke your toe, you would ask for help to fix it right away - your mental health and wellbeing are equally important, so do not feel uncomfortable reaching out for help.
We can never know what life will throw at us, but what we can (and should) do is to take care of our emotional hygiene to our best ability daily. Perhaps, these mindfulness rituals could help boost some positivity, gratitude and calm into your daily routines.
Self-care rituals for the mind
Read a few pages of a book to relax and unwind
Meditate
Try out yoga to reconnect your body with your mind
Write down or say out loud a few positive affirmations each morning before starting your day
Go offline once a week
Write a gratitude list
Listen to an inspiring podcast
Review your day each evening by listing a few positive things that happened that day
Write yourself a love letter from time to time
Take care of your emotional wellbeing with the same consistency and thoroughness, as you maintain your personal appearance and hygiene. Consume positive information; focus on gratitude and beauty i your life; surround yourself with uplifting, supportive people. Be aware of the stories you tell yourself and transform your inner dialog into an inspiring, motivating, encouraging cheering.
Root Your Actions In Self-Love
Inevitably, by practicing the suggested rituals for your body and mind you will create solid habits, invite mindfulness and calmness into your life and boost your everyday experience with a little more positivity, gratitude, intention and self-awareness. Though, what they really do is, with time, help you lay a strong foundation of self-love and care even deeper at the core of our beliefs and values.
Prioritising, preserving and protecting your physical and mental wellbeing is also accepting your past, forgiving yourself and those who made your skin thicker, welcoming change, giving yourself permission to be whoever you are, want and need to be to be happy (as long as you do not hold others back). Self-love is allowing yourself to be your truest, most authentic self. It is giving yourself permission to feel everything - allowing your heart to feel it all, both light and darkness. Self-love is fearlessly pursuing your dreams and believing that you are worthy of them. Taking care of yourself is respecting yourself enough to set boundaries or walk away from a daunting and damaging situation in your life, whatever that might be.
So Is It An Expensive Luxury Or A Daily Necessity?
Self-care is not selfish. When you are empty inside, you cannot give anything back to the world or people around you. As much as you would want to, when you are exhausted, anxious or suffering inside yourself, you cannot express your love, kindness and compassion towards others. Carving out some time for yourself is, in fact, the beginning of your love and understanding towards people around you. In order to provide value, be there for your loved ones, live your life to the fullest and collect an ocean of unforgettable memories, you have to make sure to look after yourself - physically and emotionally. It is a gift you should give yourself that will inevitable benefit those around you.
Each of us experiences this journey and this world through a personal lens, so to be able to live a life in abundance of energy, confidence, love, beauty, compassion, empathy, adventure, health and wellness, you have to install it in yourself first - and then, it becomes a ripple that activates waves felt by others too. Once it starts with you, it spreads all around you.