Written by Elizabeth Quinteros
To expand on last month's article relating to the stress that SOAR students face and the burnout that collectively happens, self-care comes in different shapes and sizes. It won’t look the same for everyone and different activities will work better for others. But what are these activities? What if I don’t know where to start on my journey of self-care? It becomes more clear when the idea can be separated and looked at in smaller parts.
When it comes to self-care, it can be divided into six different categories that people tend to practice or work on. The six types of self-care are emotional, practical, physical, mental, social, and spiritual self-care.
Emotional self-care is all about connecting to your emotions and reflecting on them, it will include:
- Talking with a therapist
- Writing in a journal or diary
- Creating art
- Listening to music
- Accepting your emotions and not suppressing them
Practical self-care helps you with everyday aspects of your life and prevents stress from happening in the future, it will include:
- Organizing your closet
- Creating budgets
- Developing healthy routines
Physical self-care improves your well-being and physical health, it will include: - Getting enough sleep
- Eating healthy
- Staying hydrated
- Working out in a healthy way
- Going for a walk
Mental self-care will help stimulate your brain and work on your intelligence, it will include:
- Reading a book
- Playing brain games like puzzles or crosswords
- Going to museums
Social self-care helps the relationships you have with other people in your life, it will include:
- Spending time with family members
- Going on dates with significant others
- Hanging out with friends
Spiritual self-care will help grow and nurture your spirit and doesn’t necessarily have to relate to religion, it will include:
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Taking in nature
- Self-reflecting
The different activities that were listed are just a small portion of what you can do to help take care of yourself. It will just need a lot of experimenting, trial and error in order to find the perfect form of self-care that suits your needs.
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