Selfcare is more than just a buzzword. Rather, we need them to be sustainably healthy and happy. These seven pillars will help you practice self-care and find balance in your everyday life, even in stressful times.
What is self-care – a bubble bath with wine and chocolate? These can certainly be ways to make us feel better, but they usually only help in the short term. In the long term, we need more to be holistically healthy, satisfied and balanced. If we work too much, fight lack of sleep with coffee and only eat kebabs and fries because of the stress instead of cooking (or having cooked) something nutritious, then a bathtub and a glass of red wine won’t solve the problem.
Instead, we can look at what we need in the long term to feel good on all levels. Ultimately, only you can know what the ultimate self-care concept looks like for you. Because if one can develop with lots of social contacts and exciting hobbies, the other needs more rest and relaxation to recharge their batteries. Self-care means constantly reminding ourselves of what we need for a healthy and happy life – and implementing this in the long term.
As a helpful guide, we have put together the seven most important pillars of self-care for you, all of which are equally important and ideally receive the same amount of attention from you.
The 7 pillars of self-care for a happy life
1. Mental self-care
Mental or intellectual self-care is about your mindset. How you deal with your thoughts is essential to your holistic health. Because if you constantly think negatively and stay in these old patterns, you will – unsurprisingly – probably not succeed in many things. Luckily, we can train our brains. You can do this, for example, through mindfulness exercises and meditation, but also by learning a new skill. Curiosity and openness are important skills for good mental health.
2. Emotional self-care
What emotional needs do you have? As simple as this question sounds, the answer can be very complex if we really think about it. Because only if we can allow, understand and process our feelings will we be well in the long term. Unfortunately, repressing it doesn’t help. But we can practice dealing with our emotions properly. This can be done, for example, through meditation, in which we learn to perceive our thoughts and feelings as a neutral observer. If you don’t really know how and where to start, seek help – psychotherapy is definitely a safe and professional environment in which to work with your emotions.
3. Physical self-care
This is about your physical health. And yes: physical self-care can certainly take place in the form of the bubble bath mentioned above. But there’s a lot more to it – such as sufficient exercise that suits you and is good for you, a balanced diet that nourishes and fills you up, and enough sleep. But breaks and regular relaxation are also an important factor that many of us unfortunately often forget.
4. Self-care of those around you
What spatial environment do you need to feel comfortable? This includes a bigger picture such as the country and environment in which you live or want to live. Do you prefer a warm climate or do you prefer Nordic? The question of whether you like living in an urban area or prefer nature also plays a role.
The more detail you go into, the more you can probably take immediate action. Because this form of self-care is also about your apartment, your personal retreat and the question of how you design it. It’s about order and cleanliness around you. How easy it is for us to keep things tidy is basically a matter of type, but everyone benefits from a harmonious and hygienic environment. So: do the dishes, put away the laundry, change your bed. You’ll immediately feel better afterwards, I promise!
5. Mental self-care
Even though they may seem related at first glance, your mental well-being is not the same as your mental well-being. Because mental self-care is about something bigger, something higher. The most important question is: What gives your life meaning?
It doesn’t have to be selfless volunteer work, five children or an important job with great responsibility. You can find and experience spiritual fulfillment and meaning in a wide variety of areas. What is family or work for one person is traveling and discovering new worlds for another. Be honest with yourself here and ask yourself what gives you a sense of purpose and drive.
6. Self-care in your free time
Leisure activities and hobbies are essential because our brain needs breaks in order to be creative and productive. What we enjoy is of course very individual. There are active types who like to be out and about and explore new things, while others seek peace and quiet and perhaps read a book or stream a series. Do what’s good for you – but also think outside the box. Trying something new can give your self-confidence an unexpected boost!
7. Social self-care
We all need relationships and social bonds – some more, others less. But no one can survive without contact with others. That’s why maintaining relationships is clearly part of self-care. Spend time with people who are good for you and who inspire you, and minimize the time you spend with toxic people and energy vampires.
But social connections are not a one-way street, but a question of balance. It can also be good to do something for others. Maybe you’ll just call your aunt again, ask your elderly neighbor if you can carry the groceries up to him, or find a completely different way to give something back. You will notice how good it feels to promote social interaction.
This is how you can use the pillars of self-care
Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself! It’s not about coming up with a perfect plan in a few hours to keep each of the pillars at optimal levels at every point in your life. This can take years. Rather, the pillars can provide a basic framework that will help you if you have the feeling that your life has (once again) gotten a little out of control.
Maybe you define one of the fields for each day of the week that is the focus of that day. Maybe you just shift your focus on a weekly or even monthly basis. Which topics require how much work is very individual. There are people who are naturally good at nurturing their relationships, but always fail to take care of their own physical well-being. Others live very healthy lives on the physical level, but have lost sight of their emotional and mental health.
Everything is connected. If you work on one of the pillars, the others also benefit. It’s simply a question of measure and time. So it’s best to intuitively see in which area there is the greatest and most urgent need for action – and create your own personal self-care routines based on that.
Sources used: theblissfulmind.com, simplyganzleben.de