5 Self Care Areas I Focus on Weekly

If you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning, you’ll know that self-care is a topic and practice that is so important to me. Many of my ideas for blog posts come from one of five self-care areas that I value the most for my anxiety management and quality of life! These areas are constantly evolving and changing. Some weeks one area may be more of a priority than others. I should also note that I do struggle with guilt when I feel like I am not giving enough time to one of these areas on a given week but the truth is, even if I am focusing more on one area over the other, prioritizing any one of these areas is aligning with my values and that is something to be celebrated!

So, maybe you’re wondering where you even start in selecting 5 areas of self-care to focus on. My best advice would be to first identify your personal values. What is most important to you? What lights you up? What brings you pure joy? From there, you can’t go wrong!

Below are the five self-care areas I focus on weekly in some capacity or another.

Movement

My relationship with exercise has been difficult at best. Sometimes I feel so on point with my workouts and then other times I feel like I am constantly fighting with my body and mind to get moving. Despite it all, I know the value of moving my body and the impact it has on my mental health and that is one of the main reasons it is 1 of my 5! I aim to move my body a little bit every day even if it’s just a short walk or taking the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator.

Nourishment

My relationship with food over the years is even more complicated than my relationship with exercise. For full disclosure, this is one area that has been the most unprioritized of the bunch. In this area, I not only focus on nourishing my body with good food, but I have to focus a lot on how food makes me feel physically and mentally. Food guilt is something I have struggled with for as long as I can remember and is still part of my daily life. I have to really listen to my inner thoughts when it comes to the foods that I eat. I aim to allow myself to eat in an unrestricted way (I don’t diet) and to not label foods as good and bad. I am working on honoring the way my body feels and listening to the cues it is giving me. You can read more about my intended approach here!

Mindfulness/Stress Management

This area is super important to me! I am the type of person who carries their stress around with them. I suffer from perfectionism and imposter syndrome and have to work every single day to keep those stressful and anxious feelings at bay. Some days it’s easier and others it’s sooooo difficult and honestly, sometimes I am just not successful. Accepting that has been a healing practice all it’s own! For this self-care area I work a lot on personal development and one of my goals for the rest of 2020 is to practice daily gratitude. Gratitude is one of the best ways I have found to help manage my stress and anxiety. This area is a daily struggle but it’s totally worth it!

Connection

I work really hard to set healthy boundaries with the people in my life. I am an introvert through and through but connecting with the people I love really lights me up in the best way. Lockdown has really put a damper on things this year but I think it has also encouraged people to get more creative on how they can connect with their loved ones, even the ones they have been in lockdown with! For my husband and I, working on different projects give us the “me” time we both need. But we also make sure we are spending quality unplugged time together that we need to keep our relationship fulfilled. It’s not always easy but my personal relationships mean the world to me and focusing on connection is my way of living a fulfilled and happy life that aligns with my values.

Creativity

I need a creative outlet in my life. Without it, I find it harder to manage my stress. I went from immersing myself in creativity every single day in college to finding it difficult to be creative at all after I had graduated. College was 4 of the best years of my life and I attribute that to great friends and also having that creative outlet every day in the form of studying theatre. When I started doing this work to figure out my own self-care practice, I knew creativity had to be part of it! I am grateful to have this blog as a creative outlet but have also started to recognize how creativity shows up in other areas of my life! The smile that’s on my face while I am decorating my house for the holidays or the satisfaction I get from sharing a meal I have prepared with my loved ones has really cemented the importance of creativity in my life and my personal self-care practice!

What is one area of self-care that you focus on weekly? Share it in the comments below or over on Instagram!