By: Kristen Jacobsen, The Anxiety Therapist
Today, I want to talk about self-care. I feel like this has sort of become a buzzword during and after the pandemic. And I think it can often be misconstrued or sometimes it feels like we're being selfish. A lot of times when we think about self-care, we're thinking about it in terms of these occasional luxuries or things that we do to pamper ourselves, essentially getting your nails done, taking a vacation, getting a massage, or having a spa day. These things are absolutely enjoyable, restorative, and relaxing, and they're things I enjoy doing myself.
But true self-care lies in the consistent implementation of small nourishing habits and boundary-setting practices. If we think about it more holistically and incorporate self-care into our daily lives, it helps us manage anxiety more effectively and cultivate a deeper sense of emotional well-being. We want to prioritize ourselves and our needs, and it is absolutely not selfish to do this. It is an act of self-preservation.
A lot of us take on too much and we're sort of running on fumes, and that is not sustainable in order to continue meeting the needs of the people in our lives that we care about and continue to fulfill whatever roles in our lives we have, whether that's a parent or an employee. Self-care is truly an act of self-preservation. It's also an act of self-love. If you think about making a commitment to yourself to engage in a daily habit, that might be considered self-care, you are showing respect toward yourself, which has a profound impact on self-confidence and self-esteem.
Think about it; I guarantee it's probably easy for you to make commitments to other people and sometimes overcommit. But oftentimes the first thing to go is whatever we had committed to for ourselves; maybe we had planned to work out after work, but something came up and that's the first thing that we get rid of, and that's not showing yourself much respect, and everything sort of works together in this way. So, self-care is very much related to self-confidence and our abilities to manage life and reach our goals.
Few ways that you could incorporate self-care as a daily habit:
Taking short breaks
One of those is just taking short breaks throughout the day, and I'm not talking about half an hour, I'm talking about maybe five minutes. You know, step outside and enjoy the sunshine for five minutes. Spend two minutes doing a deep breathing exercise or maybe spend three minutes doing meditation. Anything that's just going to help you restore a sense of calm and focus.
Physical activity
We should really be moving our bodies every single day, and this doesn't have to be anything extravagant or strenuous. This does not mean going to the gym for an hour. It could be walking your dog or just going for a 10-minute walk on your lunch break. It might be practicing yoga or dancing to your favorite song before a meeting that you're feeling anxious about; anything that's going to release endorphins and lift your mood and reduce stress levels.
Mindful eating
One is what we put into our bodies, right? So what we're eating, our car cannot run without gas, our phone will not work without a charged battery. So if you think of food as fuel, it has such a tremendous impact on how we feel and how much energy we have because there's such a strong mind-body connection.
Adequate sleep
And with that said, sleep is also important in regard to self-care. It contributes to overall well-being and enhances our ability to cope with anxiety. Make sure you're getting enough sleep, and that might be a different number of hours depending on the person. But try to figure out kind of how much sleep you need, what's ideal, and obviously, it's not going to be perfect, but try to stick to that as much as possible.
Setting boundaries
Boundaries have become sort of a buzzword lately, but I think I talk about boundaries with every single client I have because they are so important and so many people struggle with them. Learning to say no and setting healthy boundaries is an essential aspect of self-care. A lot of times, we're overextending ourselves to please others or taking on more responsibilities than we can handle. And we want to prioritize our emotional health by setting limits on our time and energy. This is crucial for preventing burnout and managing anxiety. Remind yourself it's ok to put yourself first and decline additional commitments if they're going to compromise your well-being.
Personal examples
I just want to end with a couple of personal examples of things that I do to incorporate self-care on a daily basis.
Schedule clients: One is the way I schedule my clients, so I know that I do not have the mental energy to see clients back to back. I make sure that I have at least 15 to 30 minutes between clients when I schedule them. There are no exceptions. I make that a priority. I make sure I give myself that time to sort of regroup and recharge. Otherwise, I'm doing a disservice to my clients too. If I'm not fully mentally and emotionally present, I'm not doing my job.
Phone on silent: But one other way that I practice self-care is I have my phone on silent 24/7. I can't stand notifications or the ding of text messages or my phone ringing; it's overstimulating for me. So I have my phone on silent all day, every day, and I decide when I want to check my phone and respond to people. This may be annoying to other people, but that's ok because it's something that I need to do to protect my own time and energy.
So anyway, I hope this was helpful and helps you to think about self-care in a different way. And I look forward to hearing how you're going to incorporate self-care habits into your daily routines. If you want more information about me or how I can help, feel free to check out my website, Cathartic Space Counseling dot com. And I will see you next week.
