What Is Self Care/How To Practice Self Care

Hey guys, It's already day 5 of 30 days of truth! Self care in today's day and age is a bit of a confusing topic so I hope that this post gives you some clarity and maybe a new perspective on what Self Care actually is. Without further ado, let's dive right on in:)

At this point in time, people are all about “Self Care”. They stay home from school and sit in front of their tv with a face mask on and simply tell people they needed a self care day. But is that really what self care is? everdayhealth.com says “Self-care is anything you do to take care of yourself so you can stay physically, mentally, and emotionally well. Its benefits are better physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Research suggests self-care promotes positive health outcomes, such as fostering resilience, living longer, and becoming better equipped to manage stress.”

I personally do not believe avoiding stress and drowning out your emotions with movies counts as that kind of self care. Self care is doing the hard things whether you feel like it or not because you know it will improve your mental health in the long run. Yes, you might feel like spending a few extra minutes in bed or indulging on some chips and chocolate but tomorrow, you will not be happy with yourself. It will in the long run, run you down and put you farther behind. On the days you don’t feel like eating healthy or working out, that is when you need to do it the most because that is what builds self control and discipline. How do you grow from doing it on the days it comes easy? The easy things don’t make you grow, so make sure you aren’t only sticking to it when it isn’t hard. We are capable of so much more than we think but we’ll never find out if we don’t push ourselves to do what’s uncomfortable.

Lot’s of people think self care is relaxing and making yourself as comfortable as possible and don’t get me wrong, that can help if you’re having lots of anxiety for example but a lot of the time we give into laziness and label it as self care. And I don’t know about you guys but this is something I’ve definitely done in the past. Sometimes without even realizing it simply because I wasn’t truly digging deep and evaluating the problems in my life. I’ve come to the conclusion that you can still force yourself to do the things you don’t want to do even if you have to drag your stupid, grumpy butt to the gym, to study, to work or whatever it is you’re trying to avoid. And once you’ve made yourself do it, suddenly you feel better simply because you’ve boosted your confidence in yourself by realizing you can do hard things and you did not give in to laziness. That is self care, taking care of yourself and making sure your future self is going to thank you for what you’re doing right now. So get off your butt and fix that attitude of yours. If you’re going to destroy your laziness, you’ve got to start doing the hard things and truly put in the effort. Don’t forget that you are capable of overcoming pretty much any obstacle that is in front of you. So face it head on and do it for you. I hope this gave you a new perspective as to what self care is and that you’ll stop giving into laziness and join me on battling it head on. I love you guys and don’t forget to have an attitude of gratitude!

-Lydia Johnson