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People take on many roles throughout their lives– as parents, spouses, best friends, bosses, employees, and more. Each time we step into our roles, we give our energy, time, and just a little bit of ourselves.
Simple things like helping the kids with their homework, listening to your significant-other talk about their day, meeting the demands of your boss at work, require a certain level of attention and energy.
While you may do these things subconsciously and don’t think they can have an effect on your health, they actually can. If you let it, constantly tending to other people without taking time for yourself can seriously affect your well-being negatively.
That’s why it’s worth repeating–you need to take time for self-care. Self-care goes beyond facials and spa days (although there’s nothing wrong with that). It means taking care of every aspect of your health from mental well-being to physical.
Take care of your mental state
As 2020 progresses, it seems as if every day there’s a new catastrophe happening.
That, along with your everyday obligations, can really take a toll on your mental health. The state of your mind is one of the most important aspects of your overall health. If you are not mentally well, then it’ll be hard to do the things you normally do every day. That’s why it’s important to take some time to give your mind a break from the daily stressors and allow it to recuperate.
Everyone is different, but there are some common things that can help people to unwind after a stressful day, week, or in the case of 2020, a stressful year. Meditation is a great activity to begin for those who need to relieve stress in a calming way.
According to a 2019 article by Psychology Today, meditation can do everything from helping individuals sleep better, to coping with mental disorders like depression. Use a meditation app like Calm, to give you some ideas if you don’t know where to start.
Another thing you can try is journaling. Journaling can help you to track how you’re feeling every day and give you insight into your thoughts. The more notes you take and the more you understand your mental state, the better chance you’ll have to fix it. Maybe there’s something that triggers you or something that particularly stresses you out, using a bullet journal will help you keep track and fix things accordingly.
Understand your emotional needs
Many people’s emotional needs are tied to the people closest to them, especially their romantic partners. Your relationship has a huge impact on your health as your significant other’s words and actions can directly influence your emotional well-being. When there are issues in the relationship, your mood tends to take a turn for the worse.
To improve your relationship to better suit your emotional needs, make sure you spend quality time with your partner and let them know what’s going on with you. This will help them to better understand how to support you and increase intimacy. Forming a deeper connection with your partner can easily satisfy the need to feel loved and appreciated. It’s only fair since you do so much for others.
Improve your physical wellness
Although almost everyone knows the benefits of working out, that doesn’t make it any easier, especially if you’re busy. However, as hard as it may be, getting physical can actually serve as a form of self-care. Activities like running, release endorphins that help to relieve stress and make you feel energized. Kickboxing is another great activity to do because you can get a high-intensity workout all while releasing any pent aggression you may have felt throughout the week.
Aside from exercising, you can improve physical wellness by eating more nutritional foods like quinoa and kale. Taking care of one of your most basic needs can go wayside when occupied with other things. This leads to eating quick meals that require little prep, which tend to be processed and unhealthy. Eating more well-balanced meals will reduce overeating, improve mood, and give you more energy to tackle other things.
Overindulging in unhealthy foods can result in obesity and increase the chances of developing other health issues such as:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Erectile dysfunction (ED)
- Diabetes
- Kidney disease
While you can easily fix a health issue like ED with prescription options like Sildenafil, fixing heart disease or high blood pressure will not be as easy and will require intense surgeries and procedures. To avoid that, take your health seriously, eat better, and prevent small issues from turning into bigger ones.
Improving health can increase intimacy in your relationship, relieve stress and depression, increase lifespan, and improve overall well-being. Don’t take your health for granted because you only have one life to live. Self-care should always be a top priority because when you take care of yourself, you’ll be better at helping others while dedicating time to all of your different roles in life.
**This article comes from a guest writer named Cynthia Browning, who contributed her insights and brilliance in self-care. While I don’t usually post guest articles, her interest in helping you grow and take better care of yourself, using this platform as an outlet for that is much appreciated!
Author Bio: Cynthia is part of a team of wellness writers who create content on how to improve a person’s health while bettering their overall life. From self-care to marriage advice, Cynthia provides informational tips to help people live their best lives. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading the latest romance novel or jogging at the park.
