Self-care is vitally important when it comes to taking on the world, and doing what you were meant to do here. For example, if you only sleep a few hours a night, you most likely are not going to be fully present at work. Your mood is probably on the crankier side. Your motivation is at an all-time low. It’s not just work though. Self-care can affect your relationships with others, as well as yourself.
But what even is self-care? Self-care, as Google defines it, is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health.
There are 5 areas of life in which we can improve our self-care:
- Physical
- Social
- Mental
- Spiritual
- Emotional
Let’s start with physical self-care.
Taking care of your body plays a huge role in helping you think and feel better. Are you getting enough exercise? How many hours did you sleep last night? Make sure to give yourself the adequate amount of physical self-care that your body needs.
Moving on to social self-care.
Let’s be honest, it can be hard to make time for and nurture relationships when life gets busy. But when is life ever not busy? Close relationships with others are extremely important for your well-being. How much in-person interaction are you getting with friends? Are you dedicated to adding value to these relationships? Find some time to add value to your relationships today.
Next, mental self-care.
What you fill your mind with influences your well-being a great deal. Fuel your mind with positive reinforcements. Become a life-long learner. How can you positively fuel your mental state? Are you proactive about doing things that help you stay mentally healthy?
Spiritual self-care.
Connection and relationship with God is everything. Being in the right relationship with God makes this whole self-care thing a heck of a lot easier. Meditation, worship, community; are all things in which you can grow spiritually. Are you participating in spiritual practices that lead you closer to God?
Finally, emotional self-care.
Processing your emotions can be very difficult. Along with that, opening up to others about how you really feel can be just as challenging. Set aside time where you can sit down and fully process your emotions. Find someone you can trust and slowly open up to them. You will feel worlds of beneficial difference. How are you currently processing your emotions?
Can I say something? Talking about how to improve self-care and mental health is a lot easier than actually implementing these practices into your life.
If you’ve been searching for better ways to care for yourself, support your teams, and help your community; I may have a solution for you.
Thrive & Cultivate Summit ’21: A Mental Health Event For Church Leaders. Thrive & Cultivate is going to feature over 50 speakers covering topics ranging from self-care to depression, to anxiety.
You don’t want to miss it! Thrive & Cultivate is in a couple of days, May 21-22. Check out thriveandcultivate.com and register for free today!