Self-Care: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?

Recently, we have been hearing a lot of talk on the topic of self-care.  Appropriate self-care is what drives us in our daily actions and behaviors. When we feel better, we can accomplish more each day.

What Self-Care IS:

Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day.

What Self-Care IS NOT:

*self-indulgence, vain, or being selfish. 

*overlooking the needs of others.

What Self-Care Looks Like:

Self-care is not always going on a lavish vacation, going to the spa, or taking ourselves out on a fancy dinner. It does not have to be time-consuming. Practicing self-care does not have to be expensive.  Plenty of self-care activities takes only a few moments.

Self-care can be as simple as drinking more water than usual.  It can also be saying a kind word to ourselves for the day.  Yes, it can be that simple.  A time to stop and reflect, to manage our wellbeing.

Benefits of Self-Care:

*       Feel calmer, more relaxed, and less stressed.

*      Get to know yourself better.  This can aid in managing your emotions.

*      Build self-esteem and feel more confident – by taking the time to care for yourself, you are acknowledging to yourself, your family, and the world that YOU are important.

We should all have some form of self-care that we incorporate into our daily lives.

What is your daily form of self-care?

My form of self-care is daily affirmations 🙂

Join us in a 3o Day Self-Care Challenge! Simply choose an activity to complete each day from the menu below. Let us know how you are doing and in what ways you have noticed a difference in your daily life.

Follow us as www.heart2heartcounseling.org for more information on mental health and wellness. 

58 thoughts on “Self-Care: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?”

  1. I love all of these ideas! Simple, affordable, and fun!! One I thought to add is to try a new all natural soap. The smell…the feel…SO relaxing!

  2. My self-care activity for the day: Set an affirmation for the day! “Today is going to be a GREAT day!”
    -I feel encouraged! ?

  3. Self care to me is anything that makes me feel great! My self care activity for the week is positive self talk. I will be encouraging, complimenting, and treating myself all this week.

  4. My daily self care mediation, and walking is good for me. Self care is so important, especially for your physical, mental , emotional health. So you would be able to take care of your kids, family, and attend to their needs.

  5. My self care moment was confirmed after I made a decision to purchase a project car for restoration without the knowledge of my wife. Her compassion to compromise on some of her convictions opened my eyes on the level of dedication and love it took for her support my desire. This amazing feeling I got from her working with me and forgiving spirit shedemonstrated, brings me more peace and opened me up to be more optimistic, reflective and centered. My self care is gardening and restoring my dream car.

  6. I was outside in nature and went on a hike. Very relaxing! Will definitely be making time to add this into my new self-care routine!

    1. I love it Simrah! I love being outside also, so relaxing! I definitely try to always make this a part of my daily self-care.

  7. Self-care isn’t easy for me to make time for. I find myself partaking in self-care when I have the time, and I typically binge-watch Netflix.

    1. I didn’t get a chance to do much self-care today, but I promised myself I would listen to calming music while I laid in bed, and I did! It is the little things that can make a big difference!! (like the ice cream) ?

  8. I don’t think we do enough self care, as women. I really like the 30 day challenge. It has simple things that will really add up. Sometimes it’s the little things.

  9. Yesterday I sat outside in nature for 10 minutes. I do this daily and didn’t realize it was self care until my daughter told me. This is a must for my daily routine. Today I took a five minute walk.

  10. These are great tips and tricks! My favorite form of self-care is taking a long walk (: I also really appreciate how these self-care suggestions are broken down into small things you can incorporate day by day; it makes it seems so much less intimidating!

  11. Self care is doing the things for yourself that you wish others would do for you. Buy you’re own favorite birthday gifts, take yourself to a nice restaurant and book that dream trip you’ve always wanted to take and go!

  12. Self care I did today was getting everything done for the day by 9pm (with my schedule this is early ) and getting a shower and to sit down and have a calm night (which rarely happens) hoping to maybe get more than 4 hrs of sleep tonight too! Oh and finally got to use a face mask my sister gave me years ago

    1. OMG! What a frat accomplishment. You definitely under self-care is recognizing the things we can do daily to care for ourselves. Glad you got the opportunity use that mask?

  13. Today I washed the dishes after thanksgiving for my parents and as much as I don’t like doing the dishes, I always feel accomplished when I do them and for the rest of the day I’m gonna watch movies that make me happy:)

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