HOW TO USE SELF-CARE TO IMPROVE YOURSELF AS A BLOGGER
Self-care - you’ve heard of it, right? Heard about it too much? Yeah, I feel you. Recently, it seems like our whole industry is throwing this term around quite a lot, from people saying they need to start implementing self-care into their life, to others saying they’re having a self-care retreat.
Don’t get me wrong - the idea of pushing past the feeling of “busyness” and finding time for ourselves to do things we enjoy is key. Self-care is vital to being happy and fulfilled throughout our lives.
But with so many people talking about it, an area of mistaken belief has developed. There’s no point in using the word self-care in your everyday lingo (whether you’re speaking or writing), unless you know what this means for you. And if you’re thinking, ‘well I have me-time in the bath every evening when I finish work’ - you need to realise there’s so much more to it than that.
So I wanted to break down self-care into teeny little pieces and tell you exactly what’s involved. It’s all pretty fascinating - when it’s used in the right way. Plus, as you know if you’ve been a reader of this blog for X amount of time, it’ll be jam-packed full of actionable ways you can get started on self-care today.
THE DEFINITION OF SELF-CARE
I thought this would be the best place to start, right? 😉
"Self-care includes any intentional actions you take to care for your physical, mental and emotional health."
What I really want to talk about here is the word intentional. These are actions we need to schedule into our days deliberately and with a purpose. See why the bath scenario doesn’t really add up? Because although that’s something you do everyday, it’s also something you do without really thinking about it.
So ultimately, self-care is about doing actions and activities with a clear intention to make yourself feel relaxed, peaceful and also to take you away from your day-to-day life.
But the stumbling block for most people is that because there are so many different ways to practice self-care, they don’t know where to start. It’s like anything - one person’s way of doing it might not work for you and vice versa.
Don’t worry though - I’ve got something that might come in use for you at the end of this post!
I was talking to a friend via email about self-care last week and she said how much she was struggling with it. She said she’d tried getting into the typical activities like watching a new TV show or starting yoga. But for her, it was keeping a journal that worked best for her, because that was when she was completely in her own moment.
So in order to help you figure out the ways to practice self-care that will work for you, we’re going to go through five different categories that’ll cover every aspect.
If you choose to include an intentional action from each of the five groups, you’ll be ensuring that every area of your life is cared for, which will help you even more on your path to get you to where you want to be.
#1 | THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR BODY
This is all about getting your endorphins flowing, getting your energy up and increasing your self-esteem. One of the best activities? Exercise. When you’ve done a workout, you eat a good meal and you put on your favourite outfit, you’ll feel like the most confident person in the room - that’s about the well-being of your body.
It also includes things like nutrition, physical activity, health, touch and your sexual desire (wink wink 😉 )
You’ll find a list of loads of physical self-care ideas in the free worksheet that you download for free below.
#2 | THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR MIND
Something I truly believe in is that there’s always room to learn. And the more you learn and develop your knowledge in particular areas, the more this will affect the well-being of your mind in a positive way. But the more you push yourself to learn, the more exhausted your mind will get and that’s where you need to find the balance.
So really, this is about stimulating your mind enough so you’re challenging yourself to learn new things, letting your brain switch off so you can rest and taking in what you’ve actually learnt.
Practising self-care in this way will help you come up with new ideas, increase your creativity and continuously learn useful things, too.
#3 | THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR COMMUNICATION
A lot of people solely associate self-care with themselves and that’s right - it’s about the way you treat yourself. But it’s also about the relationship you have with others.
It’s no secret that we feel the need to belong, to be accepted, to be appreciated. This is natural and allows us to create a connection between like-minded people. So you need to nurture relationships with your family, friends and even colleagues to ensure that your social well-being is fulfilled.
Want some ideas for practicing self-care in a social way? Get your hands on the free worksheet.
#4 | THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR BELIEFS AND VALUES
Who you are spiritually is about as personal as you can get. What drives you and what gives you purpose is what you need to focus on. Spending time with your beliefs and values will help you understand what’s important to you and help you make some big decisions.
Is this blog really what I want to be doing in my spare time? Do these people add positivity to my life? Does my career right now reflect the purpose I have for myself?
All of these questions can help you find more meaning and purpose with your life - if you’re anything like me, this is what you want too.
If you want to dig deeper into figuring out the purpose for your blog, it’s covered in one of the lessons in the #BloggingBreakthrough eBook that you can download for free.
#5 | THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR EMOTIONS
Your emotions are a vital part of who you are as a person and as a blogger or entrepreneur. Knowing yourself emotionally helps you nurture relationships, cope with hurdles in your life, and ultimately understand who you are.
Not only will this help you develop a greater sense of kindness and love for other people, it’ll also help you do the same for yourself.
A final note
So now you know about all the elements that make up self-care, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to start practising it in your daily routine.
Now, instead of trying every single thing on the worksheet and seeing if it will work, the key is to think about what you do on a day-to-day basis and where some of these different things might fit in. Think about how you spend your lunch break, what your morning routine is like, what you do before you go to bed. Starting to incorporate some of these ideas in more of a natural way will make them so much easier to implement.
P.S Ready for the free worksheet that has a whole list of self-care ideas for all these different categories? Hint: they’re also actions and activities that you can start doing today to make a difference. Whoop. Whoop.
What do you think about these different elements of self-care? Have they changed your perception of it? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to know about how you plan to incorporate these different self-care actions into your life,