Last week I began my rant about self-care, what is it and why you should do it. If you missed it, you can check it out here (insert link). Now that you’re all caught up on the what and the why, let’s pick up where we left off and talk about the when and where.
You might be thinking how will I know I need to self care? Trust me, you’ll know. Believe it or not, your mind, body and emotions let you know on a regular basis if they are ok or in need of a little TLC. The moment they are neglected, things start going haywire.
Some of the signs you need to do some self care are:
- Low energy
- Behaving quite sloth-like
- Getting sleep and still feeling tired when you wake up
- Being unable to focus on tasks
- Overly Emotional
- Feeling stressed out and on edge
- Easily angered or triggered
- Crying at the drop of a dime
- Lacking motivation
- Procrastinating on everything
- No sense of urgency in doing anything
- A “what’s the point? Or why bother?” attitude
- Complacency
- Lacking passion and excitement in any aspect of your life
- Just going through the motions of the day
These can all be signs of your body yelling at you that SOMETHING IS WRONG. There’s a system error and maintenance needs to happen. You are burned out. Your body knows this even if you yourself aren’t aware. It is demanding attention. When the ish hits the fan, it’d behoove you to have a self care regimen that will rejuvenate you.
This leads me to the where. Before you can develop a plan, we should talk about the kinds of self care. Humans are complex beings and have many layers. It’d only make sense that there are various self care categories to address out multiple layers.
Physical Self-Care
- Focuses your actual body and environment
- Having a healthy lifestyle
- Highlights elements such as exercising and healthy eating.
- Things to think about: How active are you? What foods are you putting into your body? Are you getting enough rest? What chemicals (tobacco, alcohol, medications) are you exposing yourself to and how often? What is the condition of your living quarters? It is cluttered and in disarray? It is tidy and militant? It is relaxing and open?
Mental & Emotional
- Focuses on how you feel about yourself
- Having the ability to manage your feelings / deal with difficulties.
- Highlights having tools for coping with difficult situations and maintaining a positive outlook.
- Things to think about: How well are you connected to your feelings, emotions and intuition? When’s the last time you did something for no reason other than it feel you good?
Social
- Focuses on your needs for belonging, love, and affection.
- Being able to develop and maintain strong connections with others
- Highlights fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance
- Things to think about: Do you have people that you can count on and that count on you? When’s the last time you hung out with friends for a few hours? Do you have designated family meals or activity time? Are you a member of a social group (and no I don’t mean a social network)?
Spiritual
Disclosure: Let me first say that I’m not here to push anything on anybody. But I find that most people believe in something. Your spirit can also be referred to your soul. So maybe thinking of it that way will make it easier.
- Focuses on finding and developing a connection to a higher power and purpose for our lives.
- Being able to be your true authentic self
- Highlights having clarity to navigate life
- Things to think about: Are you in alignment with your core values? Do you feel connected to a bigger picture? Are you doing activities that feel good to your soul?
Depending on your needs at a particular time, you can choose to where to focus your self care efforts. But since all the categories kind of relate to one another and are intertwined, combining them is a more thorough self care plan approach. Think of as having an appetizer but not meal or sides but no protein. Yea, you ate, but the it’s not the whole meal. And you deserve the whole meal.. Extra large even!!
