Self-care is one of things we should all be doing, but don’t because life is so fast-paced and busy. When performed regularly, self-care can help us find balance and peace in our day-to-day lives.
Self-care is what we do for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. It helps us balance everything we do and prevent mental illness. Benefits are improved mental and physical health, better self-esteem, and peace. Self-care varies by age group but is necessary for all for better balance.
Do you feel like you’re losing interest in things you used to enjoy and want to rekindle your fire? Have you heard about self-care and what it can do for you?
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is the things we do for ourselves to care for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. These activities can be physical, meditative, or creative. It’s performing activities that bring us joy, make us happy, and help us feel at peace. Self-care should be done by everyone at least once per week for better health.
Why Is Self-Care for Everyone?
Self-care is for everyone because we are human. We have so many interests, responsibilities, wants, and needs-and they’re usually outside of ourselves. We pursue education and degrees, higher-paying jobs, marriage, children, nice homes, and all of those things we think we want because it’s the “American dream”, but we neglect our own mental and physical health.
When we do things for ourselves, we contribute to our self-care. When we care for ourselves, we can rekindle our fire. If you’ve ever walked away from a person, a relationship, or a job, you probably know what I’m talking about. Even if you haven’t lost your fire, you have probably neglected self-care to some degree and it’s time to do better for ourselves.
When we care for ourselves, we can rekindle our fire.
Why is Self-Care Important?
Self-care is important because it keeps us mentally sound, even with everything going on around us. We have a lot of responsibilities and goals and things we want to get accomplished, and sometimes we put self-care on the back burner. And that just doesn’t benefit anyone! Let’s expand on why self-care is important:
- Balance – Identifying our feelings and talking with others about it helps us maintain our balance. Utilizing boundaries with others, work, and home life can also help with maintaining our balance and caring for ourselves. Destressing with self-care can help with balancing parenting, work-life, and parenting.
- Prevention of mental illness – Balance helps us handle all of our life stresses. When we have healthy relationships with others we can share our feelings, find comfort in others, and over time this prevents the depression and other mental illnesses that can result from the stressful environmental factors.
- Self-love – When we have good sleep habits, we feel more rested after we sleep. When we perform self-care we can benefit with better looking skin and hair, better digestion, and even self-esteem. When we perform self-care, we have self-love.
What Are the Benefits of Self Care?
Self-care has many benefits, both physical and emotional. Benefits of self-care include some of the following:
- Improved mental health
- Improved physical health
- Prevention of depression and anxiety
- Improved physical appearance
- Regain interest in activities
- Better outlook on life
- Lifelong learning
- Improved self-esteem
- Spiritual and mental peace
Are you intrigued and ready to learn more? Let’s look at what self-care looks like and some activities you might be surprised to know you’re already doing!
What Are Some Examples of Self-Care?
Self-care can be many things, and there are unlimited options! You should choose self-care activities that you enjoy, that you’ll keep doing regularly, in order to get the most benefit.
According to researchers Narasimhan of the World Health Organization, Allotey of UN University International Institute for Global Health, and Hardon of Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Studies, self-care can range from activities to capacities. You can do as many self-care activities as you’d like, but it should be ones that you really like. Here are some examples of self-care:
- Exercise
- Painting
- Meditation
- Journaling
- Spending time outside
- Yoga
- Time with pets
- Time with family
- Practicing mindfulness
- Getting your hair done
- Bubble bath
- Napping
- Getting a facial
- Getting a massage
As you can see, some of these activities are physical and some are quiet and reflective. Your best self-care plan should include quiet and physical activities as this will help you find and maintain your balance in life. So, think about what you’d enjoy, what you may already be doing, and what you’d practice regularly for your own self-care.
Self-Care Tips by Age
Self-care can look different depending on our age group as well as the stage of life we’re in. Let’s look specifically at some age groups and some self-care tips.
Self-Care for Post-Retirement Adults
Self-care in post-retirement adults is very important for both physical and mental health. As we age, our bodies can lose certain abilities and can cause all types of issues like arthritis, memory loss, and pain. According to Lim, Carrell, Bermet & Ralston of Kaiser Permanente, Berry & Hartzler of University of Washington, Hirsch of Northeastern University, self-care can be challenging when living with chronic conditions and taking care of daily demands.
It’s not exactly the time to start a new exercise routine, but it is a time to stay active. If there was a physical activity that was enjoyed before retirement, it’s the perfect time to keep it up and even do more of it! Self-care for older adults can include daily (short) walks, crossword puzzles, getting enough sleep, eating well, and spending time with loved ones.
Self-care can look different depending on our age group as well as the stage of life we’re in.
Self-Care for Adults
Self-care for adults can be challenging with all of the expectations from work, children, pets, and responsibilities around the home. But it’s the time to not only care for others, but for yourself-because you’re setting the example for your children too.
Adults need to take a little time daily to do something for themselves like meditation, journaling, or even walking the dog for 30 minutes each day. Self-care for adults can help with better balancing responsibilities, emotionally supporting your partner, and caring for your children.
Self-Care for Emerging Adults
Early adulthood is a challenging time with adding new responsibilities, finishing school and starting a new career, and finding oneself. Self-care for emerging adults is really important because that’s a great deal to balance when it’s new! Getting enough sleep, eating right, avoiding alcohol, and spending time with others are just the beginning of self-care for this age group. There’s a lot to keep up with-and better balance makes it much easier when your self-care routine is on point!
Self-Care for Teenagers
The teenage years are tough with balancing school, working part-time, family needs, friends, and getting homework done. This is a great time to establish self-care for teenagers-starting with a schedule. Teenagers need to set aside time for sleep, family time, and homework, but especially sleep because teens are still growing.
This is also a great time to work on communication skills-communicating your own needs to others and gaining understanding of what you’re capable of and what you need help with. Self-care for teenagers contributes to improved learning as well as better grades.
Self-Care for Children
Children need to learn self-care as well, and they learn it from their parents as well as what they see their friends doing. Self-care for children includes adequate sleep, learning healthy eating habits, getting outside and playing every day, playing well with others, and keeping their rooms clean. Working on cementing these habits in childhood can make it much easier as they grow to establish their own routines and care for themselves.
Self-Care for Mental Health
Self-care for mental health are the things to help us center, find focus, calm, and relax. Mental self-care can prevent stress, depression, anxiety, as well as many other mental health issues.
Ways of doing this include identifying and accepting emotions, the way we react to things, getting adequate sleep, talking with others and sharing feelings, and meditation are examples of self-care for mental health. Other examples include journaling, keeping a diary, meditation, and talk therapy with someone we trust or with a professional.
Check out this helpful video to learn a simple, realistic morning routine to ease your way into the day with tips to set yourself up for success.
Related Insights
What are good examples of self-care?
Good examples of self-care include the things you’re interested in and you enjoy doing. From walking the dog to painting, working in your garden to caring for your hair, self-care is the things you enjoy doing for yourself and make you feel good.
Why is self-care not selfish?
Self-care is not selfish because if we don’t take care of ourselves, we can’t really care for others. When we maintain self-care we can much more easily assist others without losing ourselves. It’s so easy to lose ourselves to caring for others-so prioritize yourself even if it’s just for 30 minutes each day!
Activities That Real People Do to Practice Self-Care
I asked friends and family to give examples of activities they do to practice self-care. Here is what they shared and what I learned from the poll, and the percentages of their responses.
| Activity | Times Selected |
| Cycling | 15% |
| Walking | 10% |
| Running | 15% |
| Crossfit | 15% |
| Weight lifting | 10% |
| Journaling | 10% |
| Eating right | 25% |
Other Resources:
- Self Care – Activities and Benefits of Putting You First
- Self Love – Putting You First Feels Great and Helps Others
- What Is Self Care – How and Why You Deserve to be Happier
- Spiritual Self Care – Learn the Helpful Ways That Work
- Emotional Self Care – How Caring for Yourself Helps Others
- Why Is Self Care Important – Nurturing Our Own Well Being
- Self Care Tips – My Methods for Happier and Simpler Living
With everything we do each day, it’s imperative to carve out time for self-care. Taking time to meditate, exercise, or doing something to pamper ourselves can help us restore and refresh. It’s so important to do these things for ourselves to maintain our emotional and mental well-being, self-esteem, and self-love. Find the things you enjoy, that decrease your stress, and bring you joy and peace.