Self-Care—The Secret to Your Success

The concept of self-care gets thrown about a lot today, and we are aware of the idea from a young age. Are we sleeping enough? Do we have time with our friends and family? When was the last time you relaxed? Even when we forget self-care, there are people gently reminding us. While we know what self-care is, it’s not always clear just how important it is.

Beauchamp & Childress define self-care as “providing adequate attention to one’s own physical and psychological wellness”. Essentially, it’s making sure we take care of our physical and mental health. Physically, we need to ensure we are eating a well-balanced diet, exercising, and resting.

Mentally, it can be more difficult as the daily stresses we face are becoming increasingly more challenging. Jeffrey E. Barnett has warned of the dangers of emotional stress and burnout, and a decreased sense of accomplishment.

Why is Self-care so difficult?

Regardless of your situation, self-care can often—and wrongly—feel like a selfish concept. All of us are driven by a need to do well and excel at everything that we do. We want to be the best student, the best parent, the best employee. To achieve this greatness, we must completely dedicate ourselves to the task. The problem we face is that any time that we put towards self-care is time that could be spent on our objectives.

For example, how can you say no to helping your child with their homework and leave for the gym, or not finish the paper you are writing because you need to see your friends? What we require for self-care is frequently ignored because there is something else more pressing to be done. Getting the right work-life balance is no easy feat.

With that in mind, self-care doesn’t necessarily have to take up a great deal of your time. Below you will find four ways to introduce self-care into your life. The best thing about them is that you can start by taking just a few minutes a day and then extend them once they become part of your new routine.

4 Ways to Improve Your Success with Self-care

1. Appreciate the benefits of self-talk

If you have ever caught yourself talking to yourself like a crazy person in the supermarket—fear not. Self-talk is a vital tool that enables you to relate to yourself at various times of the day.

Self-talk allows you to evaluate your decisions and analyse your thought process. Rather than losing the plot, you are improving your intelligence and reducing your stress levels. You can use self-talk to see arguments from another person’s point of view or to motivate yourself and improve your self-esteem.

2. Practice self-control with distractions

Some people confuse self-care with distractions from their tense daily lives or ways that they disconnect. This could be reading books, watching TV, games, or other activities that allow your brain to switch off temporarily. These moments of distractions will work, but only with a certain amount of control.

Physical and metal processing requires energy, and sometimes we don’t have the motivation for this, so it’s easy to check out Instagram for 20 minutes. The result, though, is that the emotions that have led you to need the distraction are not processed, and when you return to the real world, they will still be there. Allow yourself time to switch off, but don’t let it become your only form of self-care.

3. Discover how you can process your emotions

As we spend so much time trying to look after others and just get things done, we rarely take time to process how we are feeling. Let’s say your deadlines at work or university are causing you to feel like you are suffocating. You might be tempted to blame your partner or tell yourself that there is too much housework. However, when you get down to the bottom of your emotions, you will understand that it is the deadlines that cause your feelings.

To process your emotions, you could try talking to friends or a therapist, keeping a journal, music, dancing, meditation, whatever method appeals to you. And never underestimate the benefits of exercising to let go of whatever is weighing you down.

4. The importance of your physical health

Perhaps you could improve your sleeping habits, diet, or your levels of physical activity to care for yourself better. Maybe you want to treat yourself to the massage you have meant to get or take up a new hobby. There is room for improvement in all of our lives.

The key to making lifestyle changes is to start small and gradually build up your routine. There is no need to sign yourself up for a new gym membership. Why not exchange your usual caffeine fix in the morning for a glass of juice or water with a slice of lemon? Or take a 10-minute walk in your lunch break instead of going straight back to your desk. You will notice that small changes to your physical well-being will have positive outcomes in your mental well-being and overall self-care.