Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts, articles, and photos from social media influencers about their spa days and glitter bath bombs. They are always associated with #selfcare, which is a not-so-foreign concept to me, but what has caught my interest is the general public’s opinion that self care is just about spas and bubble baths.
Self care, dear reader, is the art of being kind to yourself in every aspect of life: all the way from your mind to your heart, involving both your body and your soul. Self care is to treat yourself the way you would want to be treated.
Self care in itself is a beautiful concept, but the actual practice of it may be misinterpreted. For example, some people choose to drink or do drugs to practice “self care” and feel better, but this is dangerous and often leads to addiction. Drugs and alcohol are not selfcare as they only give temporary and false relief. Self care, when carried out the right, safe, and healthy way, has proven benefits, such as enhanced physical health, decreased stress levels and fewer mental roadblocks.
While most people understand and recognize the importance of self care, a common issue they face is finding the time to fit the practices into their daily routines. Some self care tips can take just a few minutes to carry out while others might take more than an hour of your day. Even though we highly encourage you to try many self care exercises, you might not be able to spend as much time doing them as others can, and that is completely okay.
On that note, I’d like to give you a few tips on how you can take care of yourself. The time it takes to do each of these exercises depends entirely on you. So whether you can only spare ten minutes or have the whole weekend for yourself, here are a few tips that you can use to aid you in your journey of becoming a self care master.
Create new rituals or routines while partaking in the activities of your daily life that you don’t necessarily enjoy. For example, you could select your favorite song as your alarm to wake you up each morning or use brightly colored mugs to drink coffee while working in the office. Spicing things up like this helps to remove the annoying/boring part of that particular activity you don’t like, and sooner or later, you might come to enjoy it.
Detoxify not just your skin, but your diet, lifestyle, and your social circles as well. Some people get motivated to work after they tidy up their room, do their skin care routine, or eat a healthy meal. You’ll feel much better when you remove all toxic substances from your life including harmful people, and you’ll find yourself happier and much more efficient than before.
Make or find a spot somewhere that is just for you. It can be a small nook in your local park or the space under the window in your bedroom. Associate the place you choose with good times, and designate it to be the spot where you do fun activities like read books or play video games. Whenever you’re not feeling your best, head over to your space and relieve yourself of your problems for a while.
This tip is pretty subjective as everyone’s idea of a treat is different. For some, it’s a long bath and yoga, and for others, it’s binge watching three seasons of their favorite show in a row. If it is safe and makes you happy, go for it (in moderation).
More often than not, the person that expects the most out of you is yourself. Beating yourself up for mistakes and unreached goals only aggravates the situation and leaves you in an unhealthy state of mind. Instead, forgive yourself. If you couldn’t do it once, twice or thrice, try it again for the fourth, fifth or sixth time. Understand yourself, keep standards for yourself that you know are obtainable, and accept that it is okay to fail.
Everybody needs self-care. It is never selfish, and it shouldn’t be some new millennial trend that will come and go as the people please. It needs to stay. Our world is growing at a ridiculously fast pace, and it’s only natural that we rush along to keep up with the changes. However, we do need to pause and take a deep breath from time to time, because nothing in this entire world should come at the cost of your well being.