The ABCs of Self-Care

Today we kick off the first ever Selfie Love Challenge! I’m teaming up with Samantha from My Bipolar Mind and we are bringing you a a fun two week challenge focused on self love and self-care To learn about how this is going to work check out this post.

To start this challenge, we are diving into the topic of self-care. I believe that self-care is the best way to show yourself some love. If this is the first time you have ever heard the phrase self-care, or you want a refresher, keep reading because I’m breaking it all down for you here.

A. About Self-Care

The Oxford dictionary defines self-care as:

“ The practice of taking an active roll in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness,
in particular during periods of stress.”

I believe this topic can have multiple meanings, all unique to each of us. My definition of self care is anything that either reminds you to be mindful of your health (physical, mental, and emotional) or uplifting your spirit when your down.

B. Busting the lies about Self-Care

There are many misconceptions about self-care. Here are the top two that I come across the most.

1. It’s selfish:
   Taking time for yourself is not selfish. It’s actually much needed for your life, especially if you are someone that stays busy with work or your family. Taking some time for you will make it easier for the rest of your life to fall into line without tons of stress impacting your life.
2. It takes a lot of time or money:
   Some activities that are associated with this topic are getting a massage or getting your nails done. This leads to a popular misconception that self-care is costly and time-consuming. The truth is that it is so much more than that. It can be a simple as taking 10 deep breaths meditating or taking a bath. All these activities are free, or nearly free, and most don’t have to take up a ton of time (more on that here). This means you can fit it into your day no matter how busy you are.

C. Committing to Self-Care

If you are just starting out it may seem difficult to incorporate it into your daily life. Here are some ideas to get you started on making self-care a daily habit.

1. Challenges
   Do a simple search for self-care challenges on Google or Pinterest and you’ll find a plethora of options. Simply pick one you are interested in and follow through with it. I may be biased, but I think the two-week Selfie Love Challenge is a great one to start with.
2. Have a master list Having a list of all the possible ways you can practice self-care helps you for the days where you aren’t sure what to do. I created a list in my bullet journal for me to reference throughout the year. When you create a list be sure to place it somewhere you can reference easily.
3. Daily check-ins To keep you accountable while you are starting this habit it may be helpful to develop a way to do a daily check-in. Some ideas are to have an accountability system with a friend or create a habit tracker to physically check it off. You can write it out or try tracking through an app.

I hope you learned a little more about self-care and will start implementing it more into your life. If you do start practicing it I’d love to know about it! If you currently practice self-care what are some of your favorite activities?