Self care this, self care that. You hear about it ALL the time right? Especially if you work in a particularly stressful field where you constantly hear about the importance of self care from your supervisors, managers, or professors in school. I was talked to about self care throughout my entire master’s in social work program and I continue to hear about it at my current job. So what is it exactly, and why is it so important? Let’s talk about the 6 self care domains, how you can incorporate them into your life, and WHY you should!
6 Self Care Domains
Personal Self Care
Personal self care is, well, personal! It’s all about you and learning to better understand yourself as a person. This includes getting to know yourself, learning new things, and setting goals for personal growth and development. It’s all about “me time.” Personal self care is important because without knowing yourself first, it can be difficult to grow in the other areas of self care. Learn what you love, what you hate, and what you want to improve on!
Activities you can do for personal self care include:
- plan long term and short term goals for yourself
- learn a new skill
- make a “vision board” depicting your future goals and aspirations
- learn a new language
- pick up a new hobby
- spend quality “me time”
- take the myers-briggs personality test to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses
- you can take the test here. It’s SUPER accurate in my experience. I’m an INFJ
Physical Self Care
Physical self care is about nurturing your basic physical needs. Think about it as your physical health; taking care of your body. Doing things that make you feel energized and ready to conquer the day ahead of you. Physical self care is important because if your body is healthy, you’ll FEEL healthy, happy and refreshed!
Activities you can do for physical self care include:
- eat a healthy diet
- get enough SLEEP
- get a massage
- take a walk around your neighborhood or at a park
- exercise!
- take a vacation
- use a face mask
Related: 9 Tips to Help you Fall Asleep Fast: Bed Time Self Care
Emotional Self Care
Emotional self care revolves around emotional intelligence. Basically being able to identity and monitor your emotions and process them in a healthy manner. You need emotional self care in your life to avoid becoming overwhelmed or confused by all of the emotions that you may experience throughout the week.
Activities you can do for emotional self care include
- laugh often
- cry if you need to! (it’s OK! It helps release those bottled up emotions)
- read positive affirmations
- spend quality time with loved ones
- identify & utilize your support system
- engage in social activities
- positive self talk
- monitor and regulate your emotions (use a journal!)
Psychological Self Care
Psychological self care (sometimes referred to as intellectual self care) is all about your mind. These are self care activities that help you to keep a clear head and a positive mindset. Activities in this group also work towards self improvement and decreasing overall stress. Therefore, you need psychological self care to be able to stay focused and effectively handle stress in your life.
Activities you can do for psychological self care include:
- journaling
- focus on the positives
- talk with trusted people (your support system!)
- counseling/therapy
- make “happiness lists”
- read a self help book
- join a support group
- get creative
- aromatherapy
Related: How to Maintain a Positive Mindset When You’re Surrounded by Negative Minds
Spiritual Self Care
Spirituality self care involves activities that reflect whatever your spiritual beliefs are; whether it be your religion, or other personal belief system that is important in your life. Spiritual self care involves truly relaxing and being in touch with your beliefs, which is important for developing healthy coping skills!
Activities you can do for spiritual self care include:
- pray
- actively practice your faith
- meditate
- yoga
- practice mindfulness
- spend time in nature
- join a spiritual community
- read inspirational literature
Professional Self Care
Professional self care is not always included in the self care domains but I feel it’s important. Especially because our day jobs are often one of the major sources of stress in our lives! People always talk about engaging in self care outside of work, however, there are things you can do at work to practice self care.
Activities you can do for professional self care include:
- take breaks
- ENJOY your lunch break
- leave work at work
- use your vacation days and sick days
- learn to say “no”
- form peer support relationships
- if you’re feeling bored, seek out new challenging projects or areas of professional development
So that’s all 6 self care domains! However, this is not all I have for you! I have put together a free 6 day e-mail course that goes along perfectly with this course. Each day we’ll talk about one of the domains of the self-care and more ideas on how you can incorporate it into your life. Every e-mail also includes free content upgrades like worksheets, printables, and resources! The worksheets are designed to help you remember and USE the tips that we’ll talk about for each domain. Plus, you’ll receive the entire course in an e-book format on the last day so that you can easily reference the information. If self-care isn’t a priority in your life yet, and you’re looking for somewhere to start, then this course is perfect for you! Even if you’re a self-care queen already, I’m sure we can learn from each other.