Prisha Khimavat

Today I want to talk about Self-Care, and why it matters.

Though I am by no means an expert, I have been researching a lot and learning about the importance of good mental health. I have been working towards implementing what I learn, in my own life. So, I hope through these posts I’ll be able to share what I learn and the things that work best for me, in hopes that you might find something that works for you too.

What is Self care?

This is one of those terms that is thrown around fairly often and has come to mean many different things. Sometimes when people get their hair or nails done, they will refer to it as self-care. While those activities can be forms of self-care, there are many other things that fall into that umbrella as well.

“Self-care is any activity we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.” 

By Raphailia Michael, MA

Basically self-care is any activity we consciously do in order to take care of ourselves. This can be as simple as getting 8 hours of sleep, going on a walk to clear your mind, learning how to say no, or even just trying to eat healthier (and yes, doing your nails can count as self-care!).

However, it isn’t a “once in a few months” thing that you do only when you’re getting to the point of being overworked or overstressed. It is something that needs to be added to your everyday life so that you can create a healthy balance, and hopefully avoid getting to that point in the first place.

Finally, self-care doesn’t look the same for everybody. There are definitely a few things that can apply to all of us, like exercising regularly, eating healthy, and sleeping enough to name a few. But, there will be things that work for you that may not work for others and vice versa.

However, the goal is to create a balance that works best for you.

Why Does This Even Matter?

Based on this explanation you might be thinking that you already engage in self-care, or that it doesn’t sound like it’s going to make much of a difference in your life.

So, why should you care?

1) Well, one of the most important elements of this is that these actions must be conscious and deliberate. It’s about realizing the importance and value of these behaviors and specifically making time to do them. When you set aside time to take care of you, you create the thought and belief that you are important and your emotional, physical, and mental needs are valid (which, they are).

2) I have said this before and I will say it again,  you can not pour out of an empty cup. This means that if your mind, heart, and body are not well taken care of, fulfilling your responsibilities will just get harder. And even if you are able to fulfill them, it might not be to the best of your abilities. When you take care of yourself regularly, you are able to create a healthy balance that will help you achieve the things you want to.

3) It helps to reduce stress and anxiety and helps improve your relationships with those around you. By listening to yourself, recognizing what things are affecting you negatively, and then consciously attempting to deal with them, you don’t allow that stress to build up. And when we are less stressed, our relationships also flourish as we have more energy to properly invest time into them.

Final Takeaway

Overall,  there are so many other benefits and things to know about self-care, and various we all can try to achieve that balance. These are some of the things that I will be talking about in future posts however I do want to leave you with one last thing.

Self-care is not selfish. If you come from a collectivist society like I do, where we are all taught to value other people’s needs over our own, it can be hard to allow yourself time and balance. If you are in that boat, I would like to remind you again, that even though this has many benefits for you, it will also benefit your work and relationships. It’s something that is crucial for all of our lives. 

I hope you will join me as I learn more about this, and in my next post I will be sharing some things that I do, and what works for me!

~ Prisha Khimavat ~