5 Ways to Help You Start to Practice Self-Care

Definition of Self Care:

Noun

the practice of taking action to preserve or improves one’s own health

the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress

Can you think of the first time you heard about self-care? I can imagine mine. I remember someone telling me it is okay to think about myself first and to take care of myself. Now, I tend to first think of things in black and white.

Thinking in black and white can cause quite a bit of problem, considering I don’t allow for my mind to be open to the in-between. So when I started to look into taking care of myself more, I started to opt out of family events, removing pretty much everything that I thought would because me mental harm and spending more alone time. Now, I don’t recommend this but for me, I needed to go to the extreme. I knew it would work for me because I wouldn’t allow distractions to keep me from being focused on how I wanted self-care to look like for me and what my new boundaries would be in my 20s. Yes, developing boundaries definitely is within the definition of self-care.

Self-Care is all about taking care of and making time for yourself.

Now, my method of getting to my self-care routine led to lots of angry folks and people who no longer wanted to interact with me. However, I did something that will benefit me in the long run. When I didn’t have my view of what self-care meant to Courtney, I was always in the mode of people-pleasing and making sure no one was in the mindset of being upset with me for any reason. On the opposite end of that, I was depressed and unhappy with my current lifestyle and projection of my future. So you can see why I went a bit extreme on diving into self-care.

So, what is the first visual you have when you think of self-care? Is it seeing yourself getting massages? Or is sitting at the beach enjoying the sound of oceans? Well, I’ll tell you self-care looks different for everyone. In my opinion, here are 5 ways you can do to practice self-care if you need help developing a routine.

5 Ways to Practice/Start Self-Care

1. Mental – Take a mental break. Whether that is a no social media day (I have one each month), spending time alone or with friends, discovering your boundaries, or expanding intellectually. This all about slowing the mind down to focus on something outside of your day-to-day stressors.
2. Physical – Get that body moving. It can be a walk outside, dancing to music in your living room, or trying a class at the gym. Trust, that you won’t regret getting up and moving. You might even like it.
3. Spiritual – If you are religious or spiritual, get back into your practice. It can be as simple as meditating on a verse, praying, or looking inward. This can be so personal, so choose what feels right for you at that moment.
4. Sensory – Find your favorite smells and/or tastes. Discover a new food recipe, grab a dessert that looks good from the grocery store or your favorite restaurant, or discover a new perfume. Discovering some of your favorites that appeal to your senses, allows you to make some new memories.
5. Mental – Meditation. Y’all know I have really gotten into meditation. Take some uninterrupted time to meditate on yourself and on the things that make you feel joy. This helped me get at least a starting point on what to try and to see if they were still activities that brought me joy.

Self-care can also be a spa day, spending time at the beach, or just doing your wellness routine. Take some time this month to discover what self-care routine you would like to develop and start to incorporate more. Comment below to let me know what you think you want to try first.