“Talk to yourself like you would do to someone you love” – Brene Brown

What is Self-care?

Self-care is any kind of activity that we do to take care of ourselves. We often overlook the fact that without good self-care, we eventually start experiencing stress in maintaining the physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual and professional balance in our daily life. Self-care practices are something that helps us feel more connected to the inner self and we feel healthier from within.

Why does Self-care matter? 

Self-care is important because we need to know our worth and remember that healing starts with the little steps that we take forward for ourselves. Our struggle against the stress that we face at work, or at home, or because of certain people in our lives weaken us so much that we often fail to balance the situations. Hence, we need to take certain initiatives under individual control to stay positive.

It all starts with you:

According to the clinical psychologist Agnes Wainman, self-care is “something that refuels us, rather than takes from us.” The process is not a one time activity, rather a slow and steady habit that makes you feel better.
Following are some of the practices that you can include in your daily routine - 

•Morning shows the day: The old proverb that we all learnt in our childhood is very much true. Morning is powerful and the way you start your day determines how you will feel the rest of the day. Wake up early, take a deep breath of fresh air, go for a walk or try a few morning workouts.

•Eat, sleep, repeat: Waking up early for a better start of the day will be possible only if you have a sound sleep. You can skip watching an episode of your favourite web-series if you are already yawning, you can skip sharing memes to a WhatsApp group if it is midnight and you feel tired. Make your sleep a priority for your health and mind. Besides that, start your day with a glass of water and try to follow a healthy diet. Include fruits and vegetables for vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. Never skip your meals if you feel you are gaining weight, nor overeat because someone else told that you look skinny. Eat healthy, sleep properly and repeat this cycle everyday.

•Find something you are passionate about: If you are doing a job of your dream, congratulations! If you are not, that is okay too, but remember to find a passion and give some of your time to it. If you love to read, grab a book before you are going to sleep. If you love to write, write a poem for yourself someday. If you want to sing, continue that. If you love wearing make up, keep experimenting with new looks. If you paint, make a portrait of your favourite person. If you love dancing, dance like nobody’s watching! If you are into photography, go and meet people on the streets and greet every stranger with a smile while taking their pictures. Your daily schedule may be a hectic one, but remember to give yourself time.

•Reward yourself: Be your own mentor and promise yourself a reward for your actions. Take yourself on a date, pamper yourself. Grab a chocolate when you admit that you finally overcame something which was hard to do. Spend time with nature, and if possible, go for a solo trip and find an unexplored version of yourself.

To feed and nourish the mind, body and soul, everyone needs to make self-care a regular practice. Since this is a purposeful and continuous process, start loving yourself a little more and take extra care of yourself!