Self-Care Matters-Part III

By Trina Stanford

In our prior issues, we discussed understanding self-care, identified myths surrounding the topic, and ways we recognize when self-care is needed. In this piece, we will do a deeper dive into focusing on the five essential self-care principles.

Practicing self-care principles that focuses on your physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual health (PEMSS) is a way of acknowledging personal responsibility for your own well-being.

Physical:

Dancing, walking, staying hydrated, eating balanced meals and managing your health are all part of good physical self-care.

Emotional:

It’s important to have healthy coping skills to deal with uncomfortable emotions, like anger, anxiety, and sadness. Activities such as repeating positive affirmations daily, setting yourself up to win by setting small goals, and gratitude journaling in which you write down 3 things you are grateful on a daily basis. However, the most important thing you can do to promote emotional self-care is being of service to others. Take time to help someone in need, share a smile, or hold the door for someone behind you.

Mental:

Mental self-care involves activities that help you stay mentally healthy, declutter your mind and reduce your stress levels. It includes doing things that keep your mind sharp, like reading a book, giving yourself a social media break, practicing self-compassion and acceptance, listening to an informative podcast or learning about a subject that interests you.

Social:

We all need one another as close connections are important to our well-being and helps us live more rewarding and enriched lives. Ask for help if you need help from a trusted family member/friend. Spend time with people who are kind, compassionate, and authentic and join/attend support group meetings.

Spiritual:

We are all inherently spiritual beings. Daily affirmations, devotions, solitude, silence, and scriptural meditation are activities that you can do to build spiritual self-care.

To help you build self-care accountability, select one activity from each principle and develop a strategy that you will actively incorporate as part of your daily PEMSS routine because self-care matters.