The practice of ‘self-care’ has been sweeping the nation, creating an entire market for people looking to pay more attention to their mental and physical wellbeing. Self-care can have different meanings for everyone, but it’s basically how each person keeps up with their mental health. According to The Gottman Institute, there are five major aspects to self-care, including physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional self-care. Everyone’s mental health journey is different, and looking at ways to better understand and take care of yourself can be overwhelming. If you’re still unsure about what self-care is and how you can implement it into your daily routine, the tips and tricks below should help to clarify.

Looking at self-care isn’t like looking at a list of five tasks, one from each category above, and crossing them off; it’s about listening to your mind and body and hearing what it needs. Here are some ideas of ways to take care of your mental health in whichever ways work best for you.

If you think you need to work on your physical self-care practice, here are some things you might want to try out or invest in:

 1. Physical Care:

This can be anything from exercising to going to the doctor. When I’m feeling really overwhelmed I like to do some yoga, go for a run, or do quick interval exercises. Something that I do every day to keep myself from getting sick (because being sick+missing school=shame, stress, and guilt for me) is take my vitamins.

This yoga mat is perfect for beginners, it has a great amount of cushion!

Talk to your doctor* and see what vitamins they recommend you get, this will be different for everyone. Care/of is a great way to get all of the vitamins that your doctor suggests for cheaper than at a health foods store. *This is incredibly important, don’t just assume that you know what you need. Listen to your doctor and see what they think will be the best for addressing you and your needs!

2. Intellectual Care:

This side of self-care keeps your brain strong, encouraging learning and trying new things. Learning as a part of your self-care practice doesn’t necessarily mean reading from a textbook, it can be as simple as following a new recipe or learning about the people around you.

I love to cook and I have a crazy sweet tooth, I’m always trying to curb my sugar cravings with something healthier. These raw vegan ‘donut holes’ are pretty simple and only use eight ingredients!

One way that I like to learn new things is by listening to TED Talks, specifically on NPR’s TED Radio Hour. This podcast covers a broad range of topics and can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and NPR’s website.

3. Social Care:

This aspect is arguably one of the most important parts of self-care, it definitely is in my mind. Social care is having a strong support group of family and friends and working to spend time with them to enrich your life and the lives of others.

 

One of my favorite ways to practice social self-care is to meet my friends for coffee! Jubala Village Coffee and Sola Coffee Cafe are two of my favorite places to catch up with my friends.

4. Spiritual Care:

Spiritual care entails religion for a lot of people, but it can really be whatever you want it to be. This part of self-care includes following your personal spiritual practices and doing things that feed your soul.

Meditation is a form of spiritual self-care that you can take part in no matter what religion you are apart of. This app, Calm, offers free guided meditations for all levels.

These beautifully illustrated cards have inspiring and thought-provoking quotes that are great to start your day with. I love to pick one card at random and mull over it throughout the day.

5. Emotional Care:

This part of self-care is about staying in touch with your emotions, specifically how you are feeling and what is making you feel that way. A great way to keep up with your emotions is to journal and find ways to deal with stress positively.

This mood journal is a great way to keep track of how you are feeling! This one has a super cute color scheme and is broken up into three useful questions.

When I feel stressed and overwhelmed, I like to take a minute to myself and relax. Face masks are some of my favorite ways to unwind, and the Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay mask is my all time favorite!