It can be incredibly easy to forget to look after ourselves. There can be many reasons why this happens. Life is hectic, you might have children running around, or your mental health being low, to name a few. Ensuring basic self-care is vital and can have massive impacts on your mood.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care can seem like a daunting area when you don’t understand what it means. Even when you do, at times even basic self-care can feel like a lot to achieve.
Anything that you do to look after yourself is classed as self-care. This can be physically, emotionally and mentally. Think about what you do to look after yourself physically, eating, drinking, exercising and so on. Emotionally could include meditation, counselling, journaling, activities that help you process and cope with your emotions. Finally, mental self-care includes doing things that help improve your overall wellbeing. This could be listening to music or reading.
Basic Self-Care
Basic self-care is doing the minimum that you need to ensure you are taking care of yourself. In a few weeks we will be writing about creating a Basic Self-Care Routine and looking at different ideas to curate one for yourself. For now, let’s take a look at the essentials.
- Eating
- Drinking plenty of water
- Having a good sleep routine
- Getting some fresh air
- Being clean
- Doing something you enjoy
Most of the items on this list are things you need to do to live. There are days when we all find even those basic tasks difficult, but looking after yourself is important. The best rule to keep in mind is to be flexible and kind to yourself when thinking about caring for yourself, but try your best to do the essential things for better mental and physical health.
Where do I Start?
As mentioned earlier, we will be talking about how to get yourself in to a basic self-care routine very soon, with some tips on how to make it easier. Keep an eye on our Wellness & Self-Care section over the next few weeks for it.
In the meantime, remember to be kind to yourself and flexible in what you need to do. Undue stress will only contribute to lower mood and impact on your mental health. So, if you are unwell and can’t eat lunch, it’s not the end of the world. Likewise, if you have a few days where you don’t leave the house for whatever reason, it’s okay. The idea is to do what you can to take care of yourself. You are important. These basic activities are vital to all aspects of your life, but so is not getting stressed over missing your morning walk, or being too tired to read or do another hobby.
Take each day as it comes, remember to eat and drink, then do what you can for a good nights sleep. Do you have any tips for helping those that find basic self-care difficult? We would love it if you share your thoughts over on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and Twitter with us.
