Self care: How to make sure you’re looking after yourself

With everything that goes on in our lives, sometimes we forget to take care of ourselves; so here are some self-care tips to get you started.

Self care: How to make sure you’re looking after yourself

1: Exercise

In discussions about our mental health, our physical health is often put aside, however, the connection between mind and body shouldn’t be ignored. Whether it's yoga, water or racket sports, or just on foot, making time for exercise that you enjoy is a form of self-care. It is important to do something that you enjoy because forcing yourself to go for a mile run every day is not a form of self-care. It also means that you get a change of scenery and possibly some fresh air, which can also do wonders for your mental state and help to improve your mood. 

2: Eating healthy foods

You may think of chocolate or crisps as your ‘comfort food’, but eating foods that can boost your energy levels, internal health and mood is also important. You could make it interesting by looking up new recipes to try out and doing some deeper research into how different foods affect us internally. Eating more of a balance of healthy and unhealthy foods can also help your ability to do the previous tip!

3: Make times for things you enjoy

If your week sounds anything like getting up, going to work, coming home, and sleeping, this one's for you. Whether you enjoy listening to music, cooking, going window shopping, or have any other interests, try and make some room in your day, week, or month for it! It’s very easy to forget that things that bring us joy are a form of self-care, and even easier to feel guilt for doing them, but try your best to forget what other people expect of you and do something fun once in a while. 

4: Meditation

Meditation can help you to clear your mind and focus on the here and now. The benefits of meditation include stress reduction, mood regulation, and helping you to live more productively. You don’t have to go to a physical class in order to meditate, there are many tutorials online available for free so that you can do it in the comfort of your own home. Meditation can be different for everyone and there are different types of meditation to accommodate this. These include mindfulness meditation focusing on the present, relaxation that helps you to relax your physical body, and mantra which focuses on self-love and love of others. 

5: Taking care of your external body

Whether you are just washing your face, having a shower, or doing a full-on skincare routine, it all counts as self-care. When you are feeling low mentally, it is so easy to just stay in bed, not shower or wash your hair or your face, or brush your teeth, so keeping up with it is definitely a good way to lift your mood. In addition to that, not being clean externally is also a common excuse we may use to stay indoors and not get any fresh air or see people, so keeping your body clean helps encourage you to get out of your comfort zone a bit more.

6: Put that phone down

We rely on technology so much nowadays. In the evenings especially, we typically sit scrolling through TikTok or messaging our friends and family, and while there’s nothing wrong with doing either of those things, doing them for hours and hours with no breaks is not good for your mental health, your eyesight or your head, as it can cause headaches and migraines. Taking time away from your tech, even if it's not for very long, is never a bad habit to get into. There are even features on some devices that help you to do that and if not, there are some apps as well.

So why not give some of these a go and see how much of a difference it can make in your life? 

Header Image Credit: Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash

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