Mental wellness is about maintaining homeostasis with the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the human psyche. It’s about meeting these needs equally and trying to keep them in balance, practicing self-care techniques.
Of course, life and its challenges often get in the way of meeting all these needs. This does not need to be a perfect balance, but a conscious effort to make time for these parts of your wellbeing. This is the essence of self-caring — the attention we give to these three essential parts of our being.
To find out why self-care is so important, check out the information below.
What Is Self-Care?
Self-care should never be confused with selfish or self-indulgent acts. When practicing self-care, it’s important to make sure not to neglect immediate duties, like caring for children. Work, however, rarely falls in this immediate category.
Practicing self-care can seem like an unattainable desire for those with demanding home or professional lives. Part of self-care is the resolve to carving out time for it. It’s about making a commitment and an investment in yourself.
Self-care is not a cure for mental illness, but rather, a healthy way to cope with it. Self-care promotes self-awareness, which improves the tools that people with mental illness need to treat their condition.
Examples of Self-Caring
The ways to practice self-care are seemingly endless. Generally, self-care can fall into one of 3 categories — physical, mental, or emotional. Of course, these categories may also overlap.
Physical self-care practice might be a regular exercise routine. For those who don’t enjoy exercise, it could be an appointment at one of the best nail salons in your area. The only requirement is that it is not a means to attain some beauty standard or an obligation that brings you no joy.
Mental self-care might look like regular therapy sessions with a professional, but it can also be as simple as taking a nap when you feel tired. Mental self-care is about paying attention to mental struggles and providing your mind with what it needs to function best.
Emotional self-care could also be regular therapy sessions, or just allowing yourself to have a good cry when you feel it welling up. Too often people put up a wall and stunt their emotional expression out of fear of judgment.
Role In Psychology
It’s difficult to measure exactly how self-care affects psychology, but it’s clear that there is a lot of self-work involved in the treatment of mental illness.
You don’t need a doctorate in psychology to see that the essence of self-care is attention to one’s psychological wellness. This practice helps individuals become more aware and connected with their inner world.
More Health and Fitness Guides
Self-caring has been a popular concept in recent years. Despite its popularity, some people still struggle to make this time for themselves. The first step to great self-care is committing to a time and a plan, even if this requires asking others for help. This is often the hardest step of implementing self-care.
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