Self-Care

Over the past few years, you may have heard the word “Self-care” tossed around, but what exactly is Self-Care?

Self-care is mainly taking care of the self, meaning you! One way of looking at it is if you are caring for someone what beautiful things do you do for them? If you are willing to do these things for another person, you need to be doing them for yourself too.

A critical aspect of self-care is also trying something which keeps your brain focused on what you are doing. Each season I try to engage in an activity I have never done or have not done in many years. When I am participating in that activity, I must focus on what I am doing, what my body is doing, where my thoughts are. There is little room to ruminate!

There are 6 components to self-care, it is not a limited practice and leaves room for a lot of exploration to find what feels right for you!

Spiritual: Does not necessarily have to be specific to religion. Spirituality encompasses traditional religion as well as cherishing the environment around us the earth, air, water and fire. It is about recognizing what we are thankful for in our space, who we are grateful for and our willingness to forgive others.

Spiritual activities may look like:

– Going for a walk outside and taking in what you appreciate about nature the sounds, the smells

– Planting a tree or starting your own garden

– Volunteering

– Reconnecting and repairing a relationship with an old friend

Physical: Putting your body into it! Create movement throughout your day or week whatever you can squeeze into your day. Action does so much for our mind and spirit, awakening neurotransmitters to increase energy, motivation, heightens depressed moods, retains focus, builds confidence, and so much more!

Being physical may look like:

– Going for a walk, bike ride, run/jog

– Hike, swim, kayak, paddleboard

– Ski/Snowboard

– Taking the stairs and not the elevator

Mental: Keeping ourselves stimulated mentally builds new neural pathways and ignites our emotional side. We learn what we can control, and what we cannot, what we can let go of and what we may need help processing.

Self-care with the Mental component may look like:

– Journalling or reading a book

– Writing or reading affirmation statements

– Engaging in an art activity, doing a puzzle

– Joking around with someone

– Physical activity never is done before

Emotional: Taking time throughout the day to check in with yourself about how you are feeling. This activity increases self-awareness and emotional intelligence of what we know about how we are feeling and see how others feel.

Emotional Self-care may involve:

– Practicing positive self-statements

– Challenging your inner critic

– Feeling the emotion, you are currently feeling

– Being kind to yourself and others

Social: Being with others is a natural part of human development, we seek and crave companionship in whatever forms we are comfortable with. Being social provides all the positive outcomes from the other 4 components mentioned above.

Being social may look like:

– Joining a team

– Having a pot luck/BBQ

– Calling an old friend

– Games night with friends and/or family

Practical: Looking at your personal space and seeing what can be changed to make your area feel more like you. What is in your personal environment you feel can be changed to make yourself feel whole?

Practical self-care may look like:

– De-cluttering, rearranging furniture in the house

– Adding colour, or other forms of décor

– Creating a morning and evening routine

– Creating a workspace for homework or work

– Cleaning most frequently used spaces

Self-care activities can be done throughout your day, week or month depending on your schedule and what you feel you want to focus on and available at that time. As you read through the list, you may have thought I am already doing these things, which can bring on some relief! You do not need to add anything more to your day!

Although self-care is essential to our mental, emotional and physical well being, do not put a lot of pressure on yourself to be continually engaging in these activities. Carrying out one self-care activity is sufficient. The idea behind self-care is when something comes in and rocks our world, we can join in a healthy activity which we routinely practice to work ourselves through a hard time. Self-care helps negate the use of negative coping strategies.
– Christine Ferch

If you struggle on your own with finding ways to improve, or implement your self-care contact us now at admin@ovcs.ca or call us locally at 236.361.0043.