Self-care is a broad term that encompasses just about anything you do to be good to yourself. In a nutshell, it’s about being as kind to yourself as you would be to others.
It’s partly about knowing when your resources are running low and stepping back to replenish them rather than letting them all drain away.
Meanwhile, it also involves integrating self-compassion into your life in a way that helps to prevent even the possibility of burnout.
However, it’s important to note that not everything that feels good is self-care. We can all be tempted to use unhealthy coping mechanisms like drugs, alcohol, over-eating, and risk-taking. These self-destructive activities help us to regulate challenging emotions, but the relief is temporary.
The difference between unhealthy coping mechanisms and self-care activities is that the latter is uncontroversially good for you. When practiced correctly, self-care has long-term benefits for the mind, the body, or both.
Top 5 Benefits Of Self Care
- Better productivity. When you learn how to say “no” to things that over-extend you and start making time for things that matter more, you slow life down in a wonderful way. This brings your goals into sharper focus and helps you to concentrate on what you’re doing.
- Better physical health. Similar to the previous point, with better self-care often comes fewer colds, cases of flu, and upset stomachs. Less stress and a better immune system can surely help you feel more physically able and strong inside and out.
- Enhanced self-esteem. When you regularly carve out time that’s only about being good to yourself and meeting your own needs, you send a positive message to your subconscious. Specifically, you treat yourself like you matter and have intrinsic value. This can go a long way toward discouraging negative self-talk and your critical inner voice.
- Increased self-knowledge. Practicing self-care requires thinking about what you really love to do. The exercise of figuring out what makes you feel passionate and inspired can help you understand yourself a lot better. Sometimes, this can even spark a change in career or a reprioritization of previously abandoned hobbies.
- More to give. When you’re good to yourself, you might think you’re being selfish. In truth, self-care gives you the resources you need to be compassionate to others as well. Giving compassion is a bit like filling a bucket; you can’t fill someone else’s if you don’t have enough of your own!
Not practising good self care can lead to poor mental health and sometimes isolation, we are social beings and we all need company to stimulate our brains. If you do find yourself experiencing loneliness, feeling like you just don’t see anyone anymore, your friends seem in short supply, don’t suffer in silence.
Please get in touch with us to see how we can help you, we offer a range of social groups and one to one sessions to help young people who are feeling isolated and suffering from poor mental health. Check out our contact page and get in touch, help is out there and you are not alone!
