Self-Care: 7 Ways to Practice Self-Care In 2024
There’s a lot more to staying healthy and living a fulfilling life than popping supplements and going on an annual yoga retreat. It’s about caring for yourself on a regular basis because good and healthy habits offer cumulative benefits.
At its core, self-care requires healthy eating and regular exercise, but there’s a lot more to it including your mental and emotional health. This is why self-care can be quite subjective and it can mean somewhat different things for different people.
For some of us, self-care could include a regular get-together with friends, while for others it could mean enjoying the solitude of a wildlife park.
All of us have different social, emotional, and spiritual needs, and your self-care routine should be personalized to best reflect who you are. Of course, there are a few good starting points and essentials that can help you cultivate your own self-care routine.
7 Ways to Practice Self-Care In 2024
1. Talk to a Therapist
This is the most important step for many of us because it holds the keys to succeeding in every other self-care practice. Talking to a therapist, whether a clinical psychologist, behavioral therapist, or psychiatrist, will help you better understand yourself, giving you greater control over your emotions and behaviors.
CBT techniques, relaxation exercises, and other practices you learn from therapy can be transformative, allowing you to reshape every area of your life as you desire. Therapy is also a lot more accessible and affordable today, as many online therapy platforms accept insurance.
2. Practice Time Management
Time management is another critical component of self-care because we often abandon healthy routines due to the ‘lack of time’. With effective time management strategies, you can achieve your goals, manage chores, and discover greater fulfillment.
To get started, maintain a diary or whiteboard, where you can write out clear goals, breaking them down into manageable and realistic timetables, while eliminating unnecessary distractions. Always make it a point to include adequate time for self-care practices.
As you get into the habit of following such a daily routine, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stay on top of your diet, exercise, health checks, vacations, and so on.
3. Incentivize Your Diet & Exercise
For many of us, starting a diet and exercise routine isn’t tough, but sticking to it can be almost impossible. This is a lot easier if you have support and encouragement from loved ones or friends, but that’s not always realistic or possible.
For those of us who can’t find such support from those around us, there are now online platforms that incentivize self-care practices such as workouts, meditation, and so on. These platforms often use rewards, badges, and progress tracking to keep users motivated and engaged. While some like MyFitnessPal provide community support, others like Sweatcoin offer rewards.
4. Get Routine Health Checks
Simple blood tests and physical examinations allow doctors to gauge various health parameters so that you get early warning of various chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
For example, high cholesterol levels or prediabetes can be treated and reversed, often with lifestyle changes alone, so that you don’t have to live the rest of your life with heart disease or diabetes. Health checks are fundamental to better self-care as they allow you to make informed decisions and lifestyle changes in a timely manner.
5. Spend More Time Outdoors
You don’t have to travel far to spend time in more natural surroundings with plenty of greenery and fresh air. Neighborhood parks and gardens are usually adequate and if you can, plan weekly or monthly getaways to destinations where you can enjoy greater contact with the natural world.
There is plenty of evidence from studies showing that people who spend more time in nature tend to enjoy better physical and mental health, with a higher quality of life.
6. Prioritize Sleep
Sleep is the most common casualty of our busy lifestyles, with 1 in 3 Americans reporting inadequate sleep on a regular basis. Never compromise on sleep time to get other tasks done and adopt a disciplined daily sleep schedule with good sleep hygiene practices to make sure that you fall asleep quickly and get the recommended 7 to 8 hours of undisturbed sleep.
This could mean avoiding stimulants, heavy meals, digital screens, and bright lights for at least 2 hours before bedtime, while engaging in relaxing activities such as reading, listening to light music, or soaking in the tub.
7. Pursue Your Passion
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to take up a new hobby or learn a new skill, unless, of course, that’s something you wish to do. It simply means that you should put aside time for activities that give you pleasure outside of regular chores and work.
This could include participating in community activities, supporting a social cause, volunteering at an animal shelter, playing sports, fishing or hiking, playing a musical instrument, simply reading a book, or tending your garden.
