Self-Care is a very important process in maintaining your mental and physical health. You may think that only people who are ill need to practice self-care, but this is untrue, everyone needs to practice self-care to some extent, though some people need to do it more than others. Do what you think is best for you and modify as needed.
Remember, self-care is not selfish. You need time for you. Remember on airplanes, how they tell you if that if the masks come down you should put yours on before you assist children, because you can't assist anyone if you can't breathe? Well self-care is putting on your own oxygen mask so you can do work and school and help others.
Here are some basic places to start with self-care if you are completely new to the topic or need some fresh ideas. There is no wrong way to do self-care (except maybe torturing baby squirrels. Yeah... don't do that)
1. Put yourself into your schedule. You can't begin to do self-care activities until you designate a time to do them. So cut out 10, 20, 30 minutes in your day just for you (personally I need like 3 hours, that's cool too).
2. Take time to eat and sleep. I don't mean getting in 4 hours of sleep so you can continue your life as a zombie or shove a protein bar down your throat as you sit at your dest. I mean you should get a full 8 hours of sleep and you should be taking time to sit down and mindfully eat your food. It is good for your body, it is good for your mind. Once you start doing this you won't understand how you functioned without it.
3. Maintain your hygiene. Take a shower, clean your room, do your laundry. It may seem like a chore but it will make you feel better in the long run. Think how much more relaxed you will be in a clean room when you don't smell like day old spaghetti.
4. Do something just because you want to, not because it has a purpose. We focus so much on doing things we need to do that we forget sometimes to do what we want to if it doesn't have a purpose. So turn up the tunes and sing because you love it, paint your nails because it makes you feel pretty, lay in bed quietly because why not? Coloring is a great activity to do in this category.
5. Do something to respect your body. This may mean working out, eating healthier or even just stretching, but doing something every day for your body will improve how you feel physically and mentally and will build a loving relationship between you and your body.
6. Do something to respect your spirituality. Whatever this means to you, do it. If you need to go to church, prey, meditate, or just sit down and watch your favorite youtuber, do something that makes you feel spiritually good.
7. Interact with a person who makes you feel good. This can be a family member, a friend or the nice lady at the cafeteria. Make it a goal to have at least one conversation with at least one person who makes you feel happy. If you can do more, awesome! It is easy to become a hermit in our daily lives and forget to make real emotional connections.
8. Appreciate life 3 times a day. This is a bit of a weird one. Try, just three times a day, to stop and notice the little pleasant things in life and think about it and be thankful for it. Examples from my life: I will drink some water and think "Ah, I love drinking cool refreshing water." While walking to class I will think, "The sun is hitting my back and warming me up, it feels very nice." While showering for the day I think, "It feels so good when I really shampoo my scalp with my fingernails." That makes three. One more, as I lay in bed before I fall asleep at night, "This bed is warm and soft and I am happy to rest here for the night." Those little thoughts can change your entire view on life.
9. Celebrate yourself. You are awesome for taking time out for you. Remember that and remind yourself of it regularly. Look in the mirror and tell yourself you appreciate all that you do. Sit down and write a journal entry telling yourself what you appreciate about you. You should be your biggest cheerleader and your closest friend, so start acting like it!
10. Edit this list to fit you. No two people will ever do self-care the same way and that is because no two people are the same. That is normal. This list is a starting point for you to build off of. Come up with your own list of things that make you feel good (my list involves mandatory kitty snuggles). Don't ever feel shame for taking time to work on yourself.
