“Keep taking time for yourself until you’re you again.”
– Lalah Delia, Poet
From face masks, to meditation, #SelfCareSundays and #TreatYoSelf. Self-care is notably the biggest health trend of the last five years.
What is even greater than the simple acts of enjoyment are the conversations that have been created as a result of this push for “self-care.” The fact of the matter is, self-care is about more than skin care routines and splurges on dessert, it’s about taking time to readjust your way of thinking, reset your emotional and physical feelings, and take a moment to check-in with the deepest parts of you and learn to say “yes” to things/people/ideas that fuel you, and “no” to the things that do the opposite.
At the heart of creating healthy self-care habits, is finding what fuels ourselves and lets us feel rejuvenated so that we can continue to show-up, work hard and keep pushing.
Some of the most beneficial tips for embarking on this journey to including self-care techniques into your life include:
- Learning to embrace every part of you along the journey and collecting growth opportunities that ask you to forgive, nurture and have hope. This is all about accepting your “flaws.” Your physical limitations, your mental or emotional boundaries, you name it. As you notice various aspects of your ‘self’ interact with others and your experiences, embrace all of your physical and mental self in every capacity and replace seeing “flaws” with seeing opportunities, uniqueness, and room for personal growth.
- Learning to curate experiences, hobbies and relationships that align with your deepest values. Repeating the concept mentioned above, this focuses on learning to say “yes” to things/people/ideas that fuel you, and “no” to the things that do the opposite. Finding joy in embarking on hobbies, experiences and relationships that help you feel gratification and enjoyment and limiting those that leave you feel depleted physically and/or mentally.
- Becoming more intentional and deliberate about what you take in, who you buy from, who you interact with, how you see yourself and how you use your resources. This takes the above two concepts to the next level and focuses on living with intention. It is founded on the idea of being mindful of the present and being wholeheartedly engaged in what is going on, where you are and who you are with while in the moment. When people or situations disappoint, this mindset requires you to assess the reality of the situation, revise your expectation accordingly and appreciate the uniqueness of the many facets that make up you, others and the situation.
How you decide to partake of the self-care movement is as unique as yourself, and your self-care techniques will help you direct your own course in ways that are meaningful to you.