People who do not know how to love themselves cannot love others. Knowing how to take care of yourself is not selfish. The better you take care of yourself, the better you will be able to support others. Join us to learn six types of self-care to apply in life!
Table of Contents
1) PHYSICAL SELF-CARE
Taking care of your body is the first and important element of self-care. It includes activities that help you improve your physical health. Some ideas to help you take better care of your body during the social distancing season are: eat lots of vegetables and fruits, drink enough water, practice yoga, clean the house or exercise, move around the house.
Even if work is busy, try to arrange time to exercise. You don’t need to be too pressured, apply the 1-minute Kaizen Principle to create good habits. Initially, you only need to spend exactly 1 minute to exercise. Then you increase the time from 1 minute to 3 minutes, 5 minutes and more.
2) EMOTIONAL SELF-CARE
Knowing how to take care of yourself emotionally will help you understand and live more in harmony with your inner emotions. It includes activities that help you connect, process and reflect on all emotions. You may feel like crying, laughing, angry, happy, embarrassed, happy, sad. Regularly observe your emotions, pay attention to the factors that “trigger” emotional factors. From there, you will find ways to adjust, promote your strengths and overcome your emotional weaknesses instead of expressing or suppressing them too much.
A great way for you to take care of your emotions is to practice “mindfulness”, which means living in the present moment. You can practice paying attention to your in and out breathing for 15 – 20 minutes every morning. Take a step back to observe your inner emotions, comfort negative emotions and awaken the happiness of living in the present moment.
3) SPIRITUAL SELF-CARE
This method will contribute to nurturing the soul, helping you find peace from within and bringing a deep understanding of life outside. It helps you find the true meaning of life, gives strength and courage to overcome difficulties and inspires hope.
You can take care of your mental health, nourish your soul and have an empathetic, loving heart by keeping a gratitude journal, such as writing down the 3 things that make you feel most grateful and learning how to help. Help people who are more difficult than themselves.
4) INTELLECTUAL SELF-CARE
We often neglect taking care of our intellectual health, but this is a way to help you expand your knowledge, skills and advance faster in work and life. This method includes ways to nurture, activate and challenge the brain, which can be understood as “exercise” for the brain.
Find your strengths and practice and promote them every day. You can also learn new skills to enrich your life. The process of intellectual self-care will help you better understand your strengths and interests. From there, it is useful for future career decisions. Some ideas to help you take care of your mind are: reading books, solving puzzles, playing chess, learning new languages, and taking professional development courses.
5) SOCIAL SELF-CARE
Humans are by nature social creatures. We want to feel connected to others. Social self-care includes activities that nurture and deepen new relationships with people around you. Don’t let work take you away, but schedule a specific time to text, call, wish happy birthday, and share joy with your parents, siblings, friends, and colleagues. It is the positive energy you spread that will contribute to keeping the relationship always good.
6) SENSORY SELF-CARE
This method helps you nurture your senses such as sight, smell, touch, hearing and feeling. This is an effective way to bring your mind back to the present moment and reduce stress levels. They also help you relieve anxiety, fatigue and become more alert.
You can spend a weekend doing a “home spa” session to take better care of your senses. At this time, you can burn scented candles, take a warm bath, take care of your skin and listen to music to relax. Or you can spend time taking care of the plants in the garden. What’s better than looking at the green trees, smelling the fragrant flowers, taking care of the trees yourself and listening to the peace of heaven and earth?
You are a precious gift of life. You yourself always deserve to be taken care of. Regularly take time to apply the six ways above to nurture and take care of yourself. If you have any questions about your physical or mental health, please consult a medical professional!
