What Is Self-Care?

Written By Tess Stearmer

What is self-care? 

To us at Secure Haven Behavioral Health Care, self care is the practice and establishment of taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and possibly even spiritual aspects of your life to improve your quality of life. To the World Health Organization (WHO), self care is defined as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote their own health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness with or without the support of a health or care worker”(WHO, 2024). 

Self-care can come in many forms as both tools and actions incorporated throughout a person's life from their habits, practices, and lifestyle. Fully incorporating these tools & habits into a pre-existing lifestyle can be difficult for some as environmental, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and other factors can impact what kind of self-care a person can do. Unfortunately, adding onto pre-existing situations, many have been affected by Covid-19 pandemic that caused many to fall into financial, health, social, and work struggles, heightening stress and burn-out. 

Organizations like WHO, World Central Kitchen, Center for Biological Diversity, and Global Exploration for Educators Organization, have pushed for resources to be available to individuals affected by hardship by providing education, shelter, resources, assistance with finances & physical needs, pushing for access to healthcare and improving environmental issues across the world. Check out our other blogs to view some local Columbus resources!

Why is self care important?

Amidst a plethora of social and economic struggles, self-care can be a way to keep your head above water, to find time to relax, and to find importance in the things and people around you. There is a highlight of importance on productivity in the United States that has led many workers to burn out, resulting in high stress & anxiety levels, less productivity, increased errors while working, lack of concentration & happiness, and drastic health issues. 

Self-care is a way to find solace in the world around you, to find joy in the little things and ways to take care of yourself that benefit your mental, physical, and social life. Self-care improves physical, emotional, cognitive, and social parts of your life that in turn keep you from burning out. 

A few ways self care can affect your life are: 

  • Reduce stress: 

  • Improve physical health:

  • Improve mental & emotional health:

  • Improve cognitive health:

  • Satisfaction in life:

  • Improve relationships with other:

Self-care activities and tools cover a broad range, but it is important to recognize what is truly self-care versus an impulsive action for a quick moment of satisfaction. Actions such as gambling, impulse buying, and binge drinking may be enjoyable in the moment, but it can often result in horrible after-effects, so it is important to find helpful and healthy self-care tools & actions. Some activities can seem healthy, but over-indulging on some of them can cause harm in your life, so it is important to regulate and pace yourself so as to not overwhelm and harm yourself or others. 

Types of self care are: Emotional, Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Professional, and Practical self-care. 

Emotional Self-Care:  

What we do to connect and process our emotions in a healthy way:

  • Talking to someone

  • Journaling

  • Reflecting

  • Practicing gratitude

  • Breathing exercises

  • Creating art

  • Listening to music

  • Working out

  • Watching a film 

Mental Self-Care:

The ways we encourage and stimulate our minds:

  • Trying a new hobby

  • Reading or listening to books 

  • Watching Documentaries

  • Writing

  • Completing puzzles

  • Engaging with the world around you

  • Take a class

  • Complete a program or degree

Physical Self-Care: 

Ways we improve our physical well-being:

  • Being active

    • Walking, biking, 

  • Dancing to songs you like

  • Going to the spa

  • Getting a massage

  • Get a good amount of sleep(7-9 hours)

  • Taking a nap

  • Get an annual check-up

  • Avoid drugs & alcohol 

Spiritual Self-Care: 

This type involves people of all religions, those who are not religious, and those outside of those boxes. Spiritual self-care is meant to help you connect and nurture your soul or inner self to help you become more grounded.  This can involve religious thoughts and practices, but is not bound by them. 

  • Volunteering for causes you care about

  • Doing Yoga

  • Consider your purpose and meaning in life

  • Love and help one another

  • Meditating

  • Creating a vision board

  • Spending time in nature

  • Pray or attend a worship service

  • Visit meaningful sites

  • Practice mindfulness

Social Self-Care: 

Making the effort to nurture and maintain relationships with others:

  • Schedule regular meet-ups or phone calls

  • Host a night with friends

  • Go on a date

  • Taking care of and cuddling with pets 

  • Contact old friends

  • Volunteer

  • Engage in healthy social media use

    • Social media can become unhealthy very quickly, so it’s good to understand your own limits regarding social media, use it when you feel good and use it in ways that benefit your life and mind.

Professional Self-Care: 

  • Finding fulfillment and balancing yourself in your work and education life. 

  • Setting reminders for food, water, and breaks

  • Setting your work down after work hours

  • Taking courses and attending conferences

  • Learn a trade of work

  • Get a degree

  • Put together and polish a resume

  • Taking mental health and/or sick days when you need it

  • Work with a mentor or tutor to improve and develop skills

Practical Self-Care: 

Reducing stress and encouraging yourself through big or  small, mundane or exciting, and/or simple or complicated tasks. These tasks can be personal or general, and spread across various topics such as financial-care, home-care, and more.

  • Develop a finance plan

  • Open a savings account, 

  • Invest

  • Redistribute or cut down on spending

  • Opening or closing a credit account

    • Having a good credit score can drastically improve your physical well-being as it can make some processes like buying or renting a house much easier, so it is best to have a long-standing, and continuously paid off card to get a higher score.

    • Do not get a credit card if you spend above your means, lose your job, or if you recently applied for more credit products. These can increase your chances of going into debt and becoming financially unstable. 

  • Organize email box

  • Tidy living space/home

  • Set out clothes

  • Meal prep

  • Pick up & reduce waste

  • Resign a room

Self-care is not just impulsive actions that make you happy for one moment, but ideas and actions that can help you improve various factors across your life to feel more fulfilled with your personal and professional life. Engaging in self-care helps reduce stress, improve happiness & energy, increase productivity and focus, improve relationships, increase self-esteem, and more! Many of these effects can come from short-term care, but the long term-effects can greatly improve your life in the long run.

Long-Term effects of practicing self-care are: 

  • Managing chronic conditions

  • Disease prevention

  • Healthier relationships

  • Improved job satisfaction

  • Reduced burnout

  • Improved quality of life

Self-care is incredibly important to practice, especially in chaotic and complicated times where the future feels uncertain. Taking the time to establish self-care in your life improves all aspects of your life and can impact your life for years. We must remember what self-care truly is and what works best for us in order to find life worth living. Find joy in the small things, keep connections with others, and find your purpose in life despite all that comes your way.

Reference List

World Health Organization. (2024, April 26). Self-care for health and well-being. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/self-care-health-interventions 

National Institute of Mental Health. (2024). Caring for Your Mental Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health 

Glowaik, Matt. (2024, January 23). What is Self-Care and Why is it Important For You? Southern New Hampshire University. Retrieved from www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/health/what-is-self-care

Bottaro, Angelica. (2024, July 03). What Is Self-Care and Why Is It Important? Verywell Health. Retrived from www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-self-care-5212781

Cleveland Clinic. (2022, Feb 15). How To Start a Self-Care Routine. Retrieved from health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-start-a-self-care-routine

Active Minds. (N.D). self-care and mental health. Retrieved from www.activeminds.org/about-mental-health/self-care/

Mindful. (N.D) A Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness. Retrieved from www.mindful.org/a-guide-to-practicing-self-care-with-mindfulness/

Tess Stearmer
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