Self-Care is trending right now. Most people have a misconception that self-care is treating yourself with pampering or spending money on yourself. While this may be one facet of self-care, there are several deeper dimensions. Self-care as a concept came out of the Civil Rights Movement as a way for activists to protect their energy and personal care while fighting against institutional racism.
Self-care is defined as “a multidimensional, multifaceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being.” Essentially… a conscious act a person takes in order to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health. Self-care is really meeting your basic needs and taking steps to love yourself before you love or care for others. Filling your own cup in order to share with others. This can take many forms:
Photo credit:https://www.cityyear.org/care-force/stories/the-corps/self-care-home-edition/
The expression of self-care is also very individualized and should be tailored to each person in the way that is most meaningful to them. The techniques that will be the most meaningful to you are based off your individual ways of expressing and accepting appreciation, ie your Love Language.
The ides of the Five Love Languages were developed by Gary Chapman. The premise is simple: different people with different personalities give and receive love in different ways. By learning to recognize this preference in yourself and your loved ones, you can identify the root of conflict, connect more profoundly and truly begin to grow closer. This is true for many relationships including the most important relationship – the one with yourself.
You can take the Love Language quiz online for free. Once you understand your love language it also allows you to make choices about how you can best express self-love and self-care. I have used the six pillars of lifestyle medicine to create personalized self-care ideas that align with your love language.
Take my self-care love language quiz here – https://us7.list-manage.com/survey?u=8598a47cc7f53efd406cff722&id=b5bcfe8a5f&attribution=false
Once you identify your self-care love language and find a few things that you know fill you up, you can create a self-care plan so that you take care of your needs daily, weekly, and monthly. Identifying your positive and negative coping skills, as well as barriers to self-care help you to be aware of what might get in the way of good self-care.
