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Hey friends, welcome back to the blog.  In our last post we discussed how September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.  I would like to spend this blog highlighting self care and how we can also use this September to practice self care.  Self-care refers to the proactive measures individuals take to maintain and improve their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It involves engaging in activities that promote health, reduce stress, and enhance overall quality of life.  It is vital for building resilience toward life’s stressors that we can’t eliminate. When you’ve taken steps to care for your mind and body, you’ll be better equipped to live your best life.  Having an effective self-care routine has been shown to have a number of important health benefits. Some of these benefits include:

• Reducing anxiety and depression 
• Reducing stress and improving resilience
• Improving happiness
• Increasing energy
• Reducing burnout
• Stronger interpersonal relationships

There are most commonly 5 different pillars of self-care.  They include physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual.  Some people also may include environmental and financial self care.  Let’s explore the top 5 different types of self care.

Types of Self-Care

Physical self-care: Exercise, healthy diet, sleep hygiene, medical checkups 

When it comes to physical self-care, ask yourself the following questions to assess whether there might be some areas you need to improve:

• Are you getting adequate sleep?
• Is your diet fueling your body well?
• Are you taking charge of your health?
• Are you getting enough exercise? 

Mental self-care: Meditation, mindfulness, journaling, therapy 

Here are a couple of questions to consider when you think about your mental self-care:

• Are you making enough time for activities that mentally stimulate you?
• Are you doing proactive things to help you stay mentally healthy?

Emotional self-care: May include activities that help us acknowledge and express our feelings regularly and safely.

• Expressing your feelings healthily
• Setting boundaries
• Taking time for yourself to relax and de-stress
• Seeking support from loved ones or a therapist
• Practicing gratitude and positive self-talk

Social self-care: Close connections are important to your well-being. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into relationships 

To assess your social self-care, consider:

• Are you getting enough face-to-face time with your friends?
• What are you doing to nurture your relationships with friends and family?

Spiritual self-care: Connecting with nature, attending religious services, practicing gratitude

• What questions do you ask yourself about your life and experience?
• Are you engaging in spiritual practices that you find fulfilling?

Develop a self-care plan 

Self-care isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy. Your self-care plan will need to be customized to your needs and what is currently going on in your life. You don’t want to wait until you’ve reached your breaking point. The goal is to take steps each day to make sure that you are getting what you need to deal with the stress and challenges you face in your daily life.  An effective self-care plan should be tailored to your life and your needs. It needs to be something created by you, for you. Customizing your own self-care plan can act as a preventative measure to make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed, overstressed, and burned out.  As you are building your self-care plan, the following steps can be helpful:

• Assess your needs: Make a list of the different parts of your life and major activities that you engage in each day. Work, school, relationships, and family are some you might list. 
• Consider your stressors: Think about the aspects of these areas that cause stress and consider some ways you might address that stress.
• Devise self-care strategies: Think about some activities that you can do that will help you feel better in each of these areas of your life. Spending time with friends or developing boundaries, for example, can be a way to build healthy social connections.
• Plan for challenges: When you discover that you’re neglecting a certain aspect of your life, create a plan for change.
• Take small steps: You don’t have to tackle everything all at once. Identify one small step you can take to begin caring for yourself better.
• Schedule time to focus on your needs: Even when you feel like you don’t have time to squeeze in one more thing, make self-care a priority. When you’re caring for all aspects of yourself, you’ll find that you are able to operate more effectively and efficiently.

To develop a self-care plan, evaluate your needs by identifying stressors and what brings you joy, then brainstorm specific activities that address those needs, like exercise or connecting with loved ones. Set realistic, achievable goals for these activities and schedule them into your routine, starting small to build consistency. Finally, monitor your progress, be prepared to adjust the plan as your needs change, and seek support from others to stay accountable.  

Follow along on our social media this month for more self-care tips.  Thanks for reading, until next time.

Emilie Barragan, LCSW 

Therapeuo Health – “Tackling physical and emotional pain”