Buckets of Self-Care
When people talk about self-care, it’s usually a conversation about face masks, bubble baths, and getting your nails done. While these are absolutely a form of self-care, there is a lot more to self-care than a warm bath.
You may have tried doing a facemask or buying a bath bomb and find that you still felt burnt out afterwards. That might mean a nice smelling bath wasn’t actually the type of self-care you needed. What is not often talked about are the six different types of self-care.
Self-care can be categorized into ‘buckets’, this includes:
Mental Self Care
Physical Self Care
Spiritual Self Care
Practical Self Care
Emotional Self Care
Social Self Care
Parsing out self-care into different categories helps us to be more intentional with self-care practices, and can help to make sure that you are taking care of all parts of yourself.
Self-care is both a proactive and reactive measure, it is important that we are intentional and are not just leaving self-care to times when we are totally burnt out.
But let’s be real, this means that self-care isn’t always the most glamourous thing, however it is necessary to help us feel good, and maintain that feeling.
So, what does that look like in action?
Mental Self Care
Our minds are busy! Mental self-care intentionally helps us clear our busy minds, while also stimulating our minds in a positive and non-stressful manner. Ways that you can practice mental self-care include:
Engaging in art (painting, drawing, colouring, etc.)
Playing word games (crosswords, word searches, etc.)
Reading a book for pleasure (or listening to an audiobook!)
Writing (poetry, journalling, short stories, etc.)
Establishing work-life boundaries
Challenging unproductive thoughts when they arise
Taking time away from social media and/or the news
Physical Self Care
Moving away from your mind, physical self-care focuses on making your body feel good. This is where we see some of those more mainstream self-care methods pop up, but this is much more than a face mask. This can look like:
Incorporating intentional movement into your day (walk, cycling, fitness class, whatever works for you)
Getting enough sleep (and having a consistent sleep schedule)
Hydrating your body
Eating nutritious foods
Taking a warm bath (or cold if that’s your style!)
Getting outside and enjoying the sun and fresh air, especially in the winter
Taking any prescribed medications
Spiritual Self Care
Spiritual self-care is much more than religion. While for some folks, spiritual self-care will predominately focus on their religion of choice, spiritual self-care also includes any activity that you participate in to help you nurture your soul. Spiritual self-care at its core revolves around feeling connected with your inner spirit. This can look like:
Spending time in nature
Practicing prayer or visiting your preferred place of worship
Practicing yoga
Volunteering at an organization or for a cause you are passionate about
Practicing mindfulness or meditation
Practical Self Care
This is the slightly less glamourous, but incredibly important and valuable type of self-care. Practical self-care is all about practicality (shocker!). These are the actions we take to make our lives easier, function better, and ideally reduce our stress on a day-to-day basis. This can look like:
Creating a routine, or a series of routines (morning routine, study routine, bedtime routine, etc.)
Taking actions to ensure that you have a tidy space (doing laundry regularly, doing the dishes, making your bed, weekly reset, cleaning schedules, etc.)
Meal planning and/or prepping
Decluttering your space
Setting and sticking to a budget
Creating a study schedule
Starting assignments ahead of time (let’s kick that due today, do today mentality!)
Emotional Self Care
Making your emotions a priority is a very important form of self-care. You can’t offer emotional support to others if you aren’t feeling well emotionally yourself. Taking care of your emotions helps with emotion regulation, and your overall happiness. Here are some ways you can practice emotional self-care:
Let yourself feel your feelings (yes, this means crying)
Talk to a counsellor, social worker, or therapist
Practice gratitude
Utilize daily affirmations
Practice breathing techniques
Ask for help when you need it
Social Self Care
Maintaining our social connections are an important part of maintaining our overall wellbeing. Spending time with the people we love can help to fill our ‘cups’. You can practice social self-care by:
Call your loved ones
Send letters or cards to your loved ones
Schedule regular touchpoints with friends and family
Plan a regular date night with your partner
Host game or craft nights with your friends
Put the technology away when spending time with friends and family
While social self-care does often mean spending time with people you care about, this can also mean the opposite. In some cases, social self-care can mean setting boundaries with some people in your life, or re-evaluating current relationships. Consider your current relationships – is there anyone in your life that is draining or deflating you? It may be time to let go of relationships that do not fulfill or serve you.
At its core, self-care is about taking care of yourself and putting yourself first. And contrary to what modern media might try to tell you, self-care does not have to take a lot of time, or cost you tons of money. It is not always the most glamorous, but it is necessary and beneficial to your overall health and well-being.
Self-care is unique to you, while you might take inspiration from influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and even ThryvSpace, we encourage you to really reflect on what makes you feel good, and do more of that.