5 Areas of Self-Care Every Woman Must Practice
In this article, I talk about five self-care areas every woman must practice in order to eliminate burnout and chronic stress.
Self-care is one of the most important things every woman must invest in herself. Practicing self-care as a woman does not make you self centered, selfish or self-focused. Self-care is an opportunity for you to replenish the energy lost from giving out to your loved ones. And the more you replenish that energy, the more you can give to the most important people and things in your life.
Practicing self-care helps you lower your stress level, so you can improve your productivity and relationships. Until you change your mindset about self-care, you will not be able to go all out to nurture your physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing.
THE FIVE AREAS OF SELF-CARE
One of my clients called me one morning very frazzled. She said she had made time for herself but still didn't feel refreshed. So I decided to go over her self care routine with her. After our coaching session, my client realized she had only been caring for one part of herself, her physical body. She was needing more in self-care than napping or getting a massage, etc.
She realized that she needed to develop a self-care routine that takes care of all the self-care areas every woman must practice. I usually term this as the balanced self-care routine. This balanced way of practicing self-care focuses on five very important areas of every individual's life.
Self-care is not a one size fits all. Therefore as you start your journey towards taking care of yourself, you need to find how much of each area of self-care you need to incorporate into your self-care routine so you can feel balanced and well taken cared for.
Physical Self-Care
This area of self-care is important because it affects your health and wellness. It's about taking care of your physical body. What are you doing to make sure you are healthy? Are you taking time off to allow your body to get the rest it needs to rejuvenate?
Be kind and loving to your body. Understand that you have only one body and you need to take care of it. I always say we are like cell phones. When the battery gets depleted on your phone, you need to plug it in a power source so you can replenish it. In the same way, we need to replenish ourselves or else we run the risk of burnout and complete shutdown which comes with other health issues.
You should ask yourself if you have enough sleep, or eat healthy meals that nourish your body? Do you attend your medical check-ups? I know it's a constant struggle but we must make the effort. Until you change your mindset about self-care and put yourself first, you will not be able to give your best in your work, family life, and relationships. As always you can't continue to pour out of an empty cup. This is the first of the five areas of self-care every woman must practice; to prevent burnout.
Social Self-Care
Our social life is very important and needs to be nurtured. No one is an island. And we need to have a positive support system in place. How often are you interacting with your family and friends? Are you surrounding yourself with toxic people or positive people? Do you have trustworthy relations you can call on when times are tough and you need someone to talk to? Are you spending enough time with people who fill you up and make you feel good?
Our social life is very important. I'm talking about positive social interaction where you don't have to put on a façade or mask so the other people can accept you. You need relations in which you can just be yourself and express yourself without any fear of ridicule. You must develop a plan to have a positive social life so you can take care of you because positive interactions with people goes a long way to affect you and how stressed you feel as a person.
Mental Self-Care
Mental self-care has to do with engaging in activities that stimulate your mind and allow your mind to grow. We live in a world that is changing and evolving every day. What was in vogue ten years ago is not anymore. I remember when we had HI5 and Myspace. But today we have Facebook and Twitter. Today we have flat-screen smart colored televisions instead of the hunchback black and white televisions.
As the world evolves, you also need to evolve as a person and develop yourself mentally.
Imagine how life will be if you decide not to learn new things. Five years from now, you will become obsolete like computer software that was not updated by its owner.
As women, we need to engage and grow our minds with activities that build us up mentally like reading a book, solving a puzzle, playing chess, going to a museum, etc. This also includes learning a new skill or hobby, joining a class, group or workshop on a topic that is interesting to you.
The more you develop your mind, the more you will feel enlightened and useful as a person. Also, developing your mind allows you to improve on your set of skills and abilities which in the long run increases your value. Mental self-care is another one of the areas of self-care every woman must practice to prevent burnout
Spiritual Self-Care
I cannot talk about self-care without talking about spirituality. I believe this is important because you need to develop your spiritual life so you can deepen your meaning of life. You need to ask yourself what you believe in and connect with the supernatural. If you are Christian, get to know God for yourself instead of depending on just what others have to say. Pray and meditate on the word of God as often as you can.
I know this is so hard to do when you are a mom because you feel you are too busy. But I always tell my clients that if they cannot have a specific time during the day where they nurture their spirit, they can do so as they go about their day.
You can listen to audio scriptures, or preaching, or worship music in the background at home or in your car while you drive to work, or do your chores or run some errands. Also, you may not be able to do 30 minutes but starting at 5 minutes a day is better than none. Also, read a spiritual book and attend religious fellowship often to nurture your spirit. This is a very important area of self-care every woman must practice; to prevent burnout.
Emotional Self-Care
This has to do with your feelings and how you deal with them. Are you emotionally intelligent? Are you able to understand how you feel and deal with your emotions properly? Are you dealing with your feelings in the right way or are you harboring your feelings and numbing them with indulgences like alcohol, food, shopping/spending, narcotics, drugs, to mention but a few.
You need to develop a healthy coping mechanism for dealing with emotions like anger, anxiety, sadness, etc. you can deal with your emotions by having an objective sounding board to whom you can express your feelings. This person must be trustworthy, confidential, and have the ability to help you talk through your feelings so you can deal with them in a much positive and effectual way. Examples of positive-sounding boards may include a life coach, a wise family relation, a therapist, a pastor, and so on. Practicing emotional self-care is another very important area of self-care every woman must practice; to prevent burnout.
In Conclusion
Selfcare is a very important aspect of life every woman must practice. When creating a self-care routine, you must incorporate these five areas of self-care every woman must practice in order to prevent burnout and feel balanced and fulfilled:
- Physical self-care
- Social self-care
- Emotional-self care
- Spiritual self-care
- Mental self-care
To Transform your Life
If you need help with developing a self-care strategy that incorporates these five areas of self-care every woman must practice, I am more than happy to work with you. Book your free self-care strategy session with me. In this session we will discuss your current situation and what your goals are. We will also decide together if working with me will be a good fit. Book your free session here.
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