What is self-care?

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Learn what self-care is and why you should indulge for your personal well-being

Self-Care is a relatively new phrase in popular culture, but it has been gaining traction everywhere from serious medical journals to the lifestyle section of local newspapers. On the surface the phrase may seem self-explanatory and in a general way it is, but the self-care phenomenon is a bit more complex than that. Here is a further explanation of what self-care is and how you can utilize the concept to improve your quality of life.

The Basics

To put it simply self-care is deliberate action that you take to care for yourself. It is important to note that self-care implies that these actions are healthful and beneficial in both the short and long term.

So, things like excessive drinking, using recreational drugs, and taking unnecessary risks for the thrill of it do not generally count as self-care.

Good examples of self-care include meditation, scheduling power naps, constructive hobbies, or taking up a beautification regiment. That?s not to say that self-care can?t be exciting; travel, sports, and surfing the web can all be acts of self-care as well!

Why Self-Care?

In our increasingly fast-paced society self-care is a great way to slow down and take some time for yourself.

Consider for a moment how much of your day is dedicated to ensuring that the needs of others are met: children and pets need to be cared for, your job requires much of your focus and attention, and keeping up a house among other things likely takes up most of your day. Self-Care is not the act of eschewing these responsibilities but rather carving out some to time to make sure that your needs are met, which should improve your ability to face day-to-day challenges, besides giving you some all important peace of mind.

The Benefits of Self-Care

One of the great benefits of self-care activities is that they help to prioritize your needs and desires by actually taking the time to consider them.

When we practice self-care, we experiment with or engage in things that give us a wholesome sense of satisfaction which will help give us perspective on our goals and aspirations. Self-care is also said to have benefits for both mental and physical health.

By taking time to focus on yourself and your happiness you can reduce stress, reducing stress can help avoid heart disease, unhealthy gain or loss of body weight, panic attacks, skin problems, and a whole host of other ailments.

Self-Care can be a bit of a difficult topic to discuss because the phrase encompasses so much, but that is the beauty of self-care. There are nearly infinite ways to practice it and everyone has the right to define it for themselves.

In a world that increasingly demands us to give more and more of ourselves, isn?t it worth to make sure that we take a little something to make sure that we are cared for? None knows how to care for you as well as you do because no one knows your needs as well as you do.

So next time you make up your schedule for the week consider making time for self-care.