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Self-care is a concept that has been introduced as an important necessity in our lives to live a life that is worth living.

Do you know what self-care really means?

In 1998, the World Health Organization defined self-care as, “what people do for themselves to establish and maintain health and to prevent and deal with illness. It is a broad concept encompassing hygiene (general and personal), nutrition (type and quality of food eaten), lifestyle (sporting activities, leisure, etc.), environmental factors (living conditions, social habits, etc.), socio-economic factors (income level, cultural beliefs, etc.), and self-medication,” according to the International Self-Care Foundation.

Self-care is the foundation for our well-being to benefit the soul, the mind, and the body, resulting in a balanced and successful life.

It is essential to know ourselves and to maintain healthy relationships with other living beings.

 According to onlinesocialwork.vcu.edu in their article “Self-care is an activity that supports a person’s emotional, mental and physical health. An individual’s self-care activities are essentially a personalized wellness program,” and there are different self-care types.

Types of self-care 

Physical

This refers to sporting activities, including stretching, walking, practicing yoga, and other related activities. Physical self-care also means nutrition, which has to do with the type and quality of food that we eat.

Emotional

Self-care can be implemented in this area when we learn how to manage our emotions, develop coping skills, and have compassion for ourselves and other living beings. It’s important to go to therapy sessions to learn how to approach the circumstances you are experiencing, and it can also help you learn how to understand your emotions. Journaling can also help, it can help you understand who you’re and how you’re feeling every day.

Social

It’s crucial to respect other people’s boundaries when relating to them and to have your own.You need to build a support network, which includes developing close bonds with a few people who’ll stand by you, and lend a hand when you need it. Building a support network will make you feel more loved and safer, as a result, your relationship will improve. It’s also important to be positive and maintain continued interaction with other people, whether they’re family or friends.

Spiritual

It’s important to have time alone to disconnect from your daily routine, meditate and find out what you could do to improve yourself and be a better person.You can reconnect with nature by, “Walking barefoot on grass or sand also decreases cortisol, a stress hormone, which helps promote deeper, more restorative sleep,” according to drgraff.com. Also, going to a sacred place to pray can help you be more spiritual, which can benefit your soul.

Personal

Creating healthy habits is an important part of self-care. You can implement habits to practice new hobbies, expand your creativity, identify your goals and aspirations in life, and enhance authenticity. This is the space that you can use to check your performance and try to do things to increase your energy management so that you can be more productive.

Space

Space means having a safe place with a healthy and clean environment that can bring you stability in all areas of your life. This applies to places you frequently visit, like your house, school, and job. 

Being on top of your finances is another way to take care of yourself. This way, you can avoid stressful situations that may lead you to have different illnesses in the future. Learning how to manage your money and creating a budget to save and pay your bills can be extremely helpful to understand, and set economic boundaries that you or someone else can’t trespass on.

So, when you are financially stable, you feel well, and you are at peace, which is the ultimate goal of financial self-care.

Work

You can make yourself feel in control by efficiently managing your energy to complete all of your daily responsibilities, setting break times, and setting boundaries within your workplace.

Working is fundamental to being financially stable to pay for a space to live. This may help you manage your personal life more efficiently to enhance the social, spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of your life.

How do we implement self-care in our lives?

Self-care is a concept that has been introduced to us many times as a primary necessity in our lives to live a life that is worth living.

In an article from psychologytoday.com,“There are many things you can do to engage in self-care. You can read about self-care strategies, join self-care programs, or work with a coach or therapist who can help support your progress. No matter what you choose, the goal is to figure out which self-care strategies work best for you, learn how to use these strategies, and implement them in your routine so you can boost your well-being not only today but forever.”

You need to carefully examine all of the types of self-care and think about how you are managing those areas of your life. This way, you can make all the adjustments to put self-care into practice in areas where you need to improve.

When you look at self-care and all the types of self-care that exist, you understand that self-care is fundamental for each person to connect with themselves and the rest of the universe. Therefore, the invitation is to engage in self-care to lay the groundwork for a successful life.