According to the CDC, as many as 22% of healthcare professionals experience symptoms of depression and anxiety due to their working environment. These symptoms can be identified and managed well with self-care because they promote healthy personalized habits that help in maintaining overall health and wellness. Self-care has 7 pillars to focus on all aspects of individual life. Learn what the 7 pillars of self-care are and how to get started in this article. Visit the best Behavioral Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org.
7 pillars of self-care
To bring a sense of wholeness to your life, you need to put together these 7 pillars of self-care in your life:
- Mental self-care: This involves cultivating a healthy mindset through mindfulness and conscious awareness. Taking care of your mental health is crucial for developing a healthy mindset, growing your skills, reducing stress, and increasing your knowledge and creativity. For mental self-care, you can do activities like meditation, thinking outside the box, writing a journal, creating a brain dump list at the beginning of each day, and taking an intentional break from screen time such as TV, internet, and phone usage.
Emotional self-care: It involves taking care of matters that affect your emotions healthily and productively. You need to develop healthy coping strategies and self-compassion to handle the emotions that might occur in your daily life. Emotional self-care allows you to deal better with successes and setbacks and understand yourself better. You can do emotional self-care with activities such as listening to your favorite music, watching your favorite movie, writing positive affirmations for yourself, asking for help from others when needed, and setting boundaries to protect your time and energy.
Physical self-care: It involves taking care of your body with regular exercise, nutrition, good hygiene, rest, and movement. When you practice activities for physical well-being, they increase your energy levels and boost your self-esteem. You can practice physical self-care by eating meals at regular times, drinking plenty of water throughout the day, taking daily multivitamins, getting enough sleep, and trying a new workout class.
Environmental self-care: It involves creating a safe, comfortable, and nurturing environment around you to feel at ease and have a sense of belonging. You can practice environmental self-care by performing activities like organizing your living space, arranging your workspace to be more comfortable, exploring new places, surrounding yourself with positive and uplifting people, appealing to your five senses (for example lighting a candle, adjusting the lighting, putting on comfortable clothes, sipping a warm drink, and putting on your favorite playlist).
Spiritual self-care: It involves caring for your soul through activities or practices that give you a sense of purpose, direction, and meaning in life. Dedicating time to spiritual self-care activities makes you feel more grounded and connects you with the world. It can include activities such as spending time in nature, identifying the values that are most important to you, finding a community, getting an astrology or tarot card reading, volunteering, or contributing to a cause you believe in (like a charitable organization or event) and connecting to a higher power.
Recreational : It involves caring for your inner child with hobbies, fun activities, and new experiences. Recreation is a fantastic way to forget your worries and simply enjoy the pleasures that life has to offer. It includes activities like taking time for hobbies or creative activities, going on an adventure either solo or with others, taking time to relax and do nothing, playing board games or video games, and switching up your daily routine.
Social self-care: This is the final pillar which is all about connecting with yourself and those around you regularly. Cultivating healthy relationships with people around you creates a sense of belonging and acceptance. Practicing social self-care includes spending time with people whose company you enjoy, calling or seeing your relatives, chatting with an online community, talking with a support group, or joining a community you can contribute to like a Reddit forum or blog. When you’re feeling down or stressed, listen to your body and the type of self-care you need. Taking time for yourself is important to maintain overall health and wellness.
How to get started?
Creating a personalized routine for self-care involves all your needs along with seven pillars of self-care. It might be different for everyone. You need to focus on what makes you feel centered, happy, and energized. Here are some steps that help you get started:
- Assess your needs: Look at the current state of your emotional, physical, and mental well-being. Try to identify areas where you think you need more focus or nourishment.
- Find activities that rejuvenate you: Create a list of activities that make you feel your best (while doing them). This can be something big or small like listening to your favorite song or going for a hike.
- Prioritize activities: Determine which activities you find interesting and align with the needs you want to work on and prioritize them.
- Establish a routine: Work in a designated setting each day, week, or month solely dedicated to self-care. Do it at regular intervals that work for you to create consistency and consider it non-negotiable.
- Start small, then grow: Start incorporating activities in small intervals when they fit best. Over time, increase how much time you spend on these activities and practice them regularly.
Self-care is especially important for your overall well-being. It allows you to handle stress better and helps to take care of your emotional, physical, and mental needs. Self-care has 7 pillars that help to focus on overall health. Apply the above-mentioned steps to create your self-care routine to maintain your overall health and wellness.
Need help creating a self-care routine, call us to get help from a professional behavioral health specialist in Brooklyn clinic. Our priority is to keep you healthy mentally and physically!!! If you need help finding a good therapist for your mental health issues, then visit our clinic, our therapists have years of experience in treating patients with therapy sessions. So, pay a visit and see for yourself.
Your life will change with a single step. So, take that step with us!!
Call us on +1-718-367-2555 to get a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctors and psychiatrists to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.
