Self-care doesn’t revolve around pampering yourself with a massage or spa, buying new clothes and luxury items, going on vacations and eating your favorite food but there are many things which can be done to treat yourself well.
Shel Pink, author of Slow Beauty, a book on mindful self-care says, “A sustainable self-care practice is about creating moments within each day, week, month, season, and year to practice the kind of meaningful self-care that makes you feel healthy and joyful in mind, body, and soul,”
“When practiced over time, these small rituals add up to a healthier and more joyful life.”
Here are 6 ways to take care of yourself and by applying these habits you can practice self-care every single day.
1. Get sufficient sleep
Our generation is deprived of sleep and we know that it requires a full eight hours of sleep every night for good health. According to studies, “Many adapt to six to seven hours of sleep and feel basically OK, but the risk of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and heart attacks rise sharply even with 30 to 60 minutes less sleep than our bodies need.”
2. Meditation
Meditation is an approach to training the mind and it is another way to practice self-care. “A consistent meditation practice can be life-changing. It’s even been scientifically proven to reduce stress, increase feelings of empathy, improve focus, boost the immune system, and slow the signs of ageing,” says Pink. “To start, I recommend using [apps] to access a variety of different styles of meditation to see what works for you.”
3. Nourish the body
It is fine to indulge yourself in treats sometimes, like eating the bag of sweet but you should abstain to eat too much as it can cause a negative effect on your body.
“Willpower is the wrong mental force to maintain any long-term behavioral change. Instead, figure out how to control your environment,” Dr. Lickerman says.
4. Be Self- Compassionate
“Pay attention to your self-talk and speak to yourself the way you would to someone you love. If you notice your self-talk isn’t loving, catch it and try again with care,” says Zereana Jess-Huff, a marriage and family therapist for ReThink My Therapy.
5. Treat yourself with the beauty of nature
“Seek out daily opportunities to be in nature. Walk in the woods, go for a hike, walk along the beach, do some gardening, anything in nature that resonates with you will do. Expose yourself to the beauty of nature and reap the benefits,” Pink says. “Immersing yourself in nature calms the central nervous system, elevates your mood, and increases energy levels. The effects of the benefits are felt for hours and days post-immersion.”
6. Say no when you want
“Many voices in your head may push you to say yes when you really want to say no, and the chief among these voices is the one that tells you that you risk being disliked if you say no,” Dr. Lickerman says. “You must learn to tolerate the anxiety that saying no likely brings. Once you learn to do this, you’ll discover people don’t dislike you for it. In fact, they’ll likely respect you even more.”