Self care is a very popular idea these days. However, oftentimes, it has been commercialized. So instead of taking stock of our needs, or what would truly benefit our own care of ourselves, we think of things like bath bombs or spa days, or treating ourselves to whatever strikes our fancy at the current moment.
While there is no need to completely eliminate this type of self-indulgent self-care, it’s also important to note that it is not the primary way we should be managing and expressing care for ourselves.
What is self care?
When we look at the definition of self-care from PsychCentral, we find it to say: “Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.”
So, if you have been burned out and need to give yourself a break or a day of relaxation, then an at home spa day would certainly fall into this! But there are many less glamorous forms of caring for yourself that don’t make it into the instagram tag #selfcare–but that doesn’t make them any less necessary.
It’s important to remember that caring for yourself isn’t just about making you feel good in the moment. If it was about instant gratification, then self-care practices would be full of unhealthy coping mechanisms (substance use, risk taking, etc.) under the reasoning of them feeling good to us in the moment! But caring for yourself should be examined as a practice, and as a practice is should be the building blocks of your mental, emotional and physical health.
If done right, caring for yourself will have long term, positive effects, and help you build up healthy habits and express yourself through healthy coping mechanisms.
To do this, embracing the boring parts of self-care is necessary.
These “boring” types of self-care can include things like:
- Making sure all of your prescriptions are filled
- Setting a time to be done with screens for the day
- Carrying a water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the day
- Picking your dirty laundry off the floor & putting it into a hamper
- Making a meal plan for the week
- Adding veggies you’ll actually eat to your grocery list
- Unfollowing negative social media accounts
- Keeping track of triggers/early warning signs of declining mental health; sharing that list with a trusted loved one
- Making sure you have regular doctors appointments/check-ups scheduled
- Changing your bedsheets
- Checking in with your support system
- Schedule regular rest time
Remembering that caring for yourself isn’t always shareable on social media can help us remind ourselves of the important, “boring” ways in which we often forget to care for ourselves. But building up a regular boring self-care practice can help us stay at our best, healthiest, and most energized selves for those times we do want to indulge in a fancier, more fun version of caring for yourself.
Want some more inspiration for boring ways to take care of yourself? Check out this instagram, where artist Hannah Daisy illustrates her journey to well rounded self-care.
Pivotal Counseling Center has therapists who specialize in individual and couples counseling. We have locations in Woodstock, Illinois, and Lake in the Hills, Illinois. If you are in need of someone to help, please consider giving us a call at (815) 345-3400.
Pivotal Counseling Center is now accepting Medicaid including Blue Cross Community Medicaid, Meridian Medicaid, and Molina Medicaid for outpatient counseling.
