Self-care requires you to get in touch with yourself and ask yourself how you are doing and what your body is asking of you. Most people, including me, don't understand that self-care is just bubble baths or spa days. Drawing inspiration from the Danish art of making yourself comfortable and cozy can definitely be a way to practice self-care. By this definition, self-care includes everything related to staying physically healthy, including hygiene, nutrition, and seeking medical attention when needed.
Even if you can't spend a lot of time and money, Gill Lopez says you can practice self-care several times a week if you turn the things you do every day into self-care practices. Keep in mind that if you read this and feel a sense of demoralization or sadness because of the challenges that are piling up or about establishing a self-care practice, it's best to seek help and support. There's no way to say exactly what counts as self-care, because each person's definition is their own and unique. It can be difficult to know which self-care methods will best benefit you or what areas of your life you should focus on.
Paula Gill Lopez, PhD, associate professor and director of the Department of Psychological and Educational Consultation at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, says that the need to take care of yourself is obvious. What I thought was self-care wasn't working for me, so that's how I found out what I needed to do. If weekly manicures or monthly spa days are beyond your possibilities, there are plenty of other self-care practices you can adopt. And while there are many examples of self-care that seem to draw a fine line between health-improving behavior and complacency, self-care doesn't have to consist of filling the calendar with luxurious experiences or activities that cost money (although that certainly can be the case).
That's why, at Everyday Health, self-care is all the steps you take to care for your physical and emotional health in the way you can best.
