What is self-care? It is well defined in an article by Raphailia Michael on Psych Central as “any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health..” The key word is DELIBERATELY!!
Take a second to think what you have deliberately done to take care of yourself in the past week. You can even write them down. It is embarrassing how we do not prioritize our overall well-being.
What does self-care have to do with anger you ask? EVERYTHING! Self-care helps us to maintain a good balance in our lives, and this minimizes the effects of triggers that contributes to us feeling more irritable. Lack of self-care leads us to experience fatigue, low self-esteem & insecurities, and boredom.
Here are some tips that can help you work towards self-care:
- Know who you are and know your limits – I like to think of it as a way to guard your heart. If you keep company that is unhealthy, then it is time you re-evaluate your relationships.
- Cut down on habits that are not good for you. Take breaks when you need them, take a vacation this year, create small, achievable steps to work towards those issues that seem overwhelming.
- How much sleep do you need? Well get it! – Create a schedule that allows you to go to bed at a good time. Reduce the stimulants – either stay away from your phone or social media about 2 hours before bed time. Also, turn off work email notifications after 5:00 pm; refrain from working more than you need to. Someone said that work will never end, so you may as well be kind to yourself and stop the work to give yourself some time to rest.
- You are what you eat! – some of us are not fans of salads, maybe a good way to incorporate those nutrients is purchasing or making a smoothie, or forcing yourself to eat a salad a day!
- Make an effort to get to know yourself.
- This would be taking a Personality test (Meyers Briggs, strengths finder, enneagram) which would help you understand yourself more and can help you identify ways to challenge or grow yourself.
- Self-reflect – this will help develop emotional intelligence.
- Challenge yourself to try different activities; you may like it!
- Know what you enjoy and make an effort to integrate it to your day.
- Go for your annual check-ups to ensure you are healthy!
- Feed your spiritual self.
- Attend a religious service, pray, journal, exercise gratitude, meditate, listen to inspirational podcasts, commune with nature by taking a walk through a park or watch a sunset/sunrise, or go take a walk on the beach.
- Treat yourself!!!
