Self care is very important. I know I hear the phrase all the time. Maybe it is a "Self care Sunday" caption on a social media post or something similar. I know I have said it myself a few times in a Snapchat or Instagram post. What I really want to look into today is what self care really means, and what it means to me specifically.

I feel like the stereotypical meaning of self care is pretty much about pampering and relaxing. Maybe it is taking a nice bubble bath with a fancy Lush bath bomb. It could also be getting a nice massage and relaxing for the day. Maybe you decided to take the entire day off from life to binge watch Netflix with a bowl of popcorn. Heck it could even be treating yourself to an early pumpkin spice latte. I honestly could make a list that went on and on and on. Self care to a lot of people means relaxing and doing something fun and pampering that you wouldn't do on a normal basis.

I think this form of self care is really important sometimes. Everyone deals with stress from time to time. Some of us deal with it better than others. One thing I do a lot for myself personally is a face mask. I am sure a lot of people know but I am pretty big into skin care, so of course I love to fit a mask in when I can. This is just something I don't have the time to do too often, especially during the week. It is like a special treat to me when I make the time to do it and it sure does relax me. I write these blogs every week as a form of self care as well. Typically I light a nice candle on my desk and type away on my laptop. I honestly find this very therapeutic. Even on the weeks I am not too sure on the topic I am going to write about, once I get myself into the motion I can finish my post in no time as the words just flow out of me. I think it is extremely important to fit these things in from time to time to unwind and to destress yourself.

I also wanted to mention the kinds of self care that people don't always think about. Sure the self care we all think about in a fun way is very nice and relaxing to do from time to time, but what about the self care we should do a little more often for our overall wellbeing? My first example and something I mention a lot is making sure you are getting enough water. I actually learned just how important drinking enough water is yesterday morning. On Friday I did not do too well drinking the amount of water I do my best to fit in daily. I would say I drank about half of what I normally do. That resulted in a horrible night's sleep, waking up feeling completely exhausted, and waking up with a killer headache. As soon as I got about 40 of the 80 ounces I drink daily in me I felt perfectly fine again. Clearly drinking enough water is a huge thing we can do for self care. Another is eating healthy foods. If you are feeling sluggish and tired all the time, chances are you need to change things up a bit. I know I always feel better when I am eating a balanced diet. Exercise is a big one too of course. I could also make a huge list of these types of self care activities.

Now that I have covered the types of self care I see, I am betting you are wondering which I feel is more important. Although yes the self care for our health is crucial to living our best life and really living at all... I feel that both of these are important in the right balance. Sure maybe living completely healthy and being in great shape is amazing, but if you do not let yourself enjoy life from time to time what is the point? Maybe you are destressing yourself and treating yourself often enough, but if you are completely unhealthy on the inside what good is that really going to do? I think we as living humans need to focus on both of these things to live the lives we want to have. One form really cannot survive completely without the other.

Take some time and think about some of the ways you practice self care. Is one outweighing the other? Are you doing your best to live a healthy life and make healthy choices the majority of the time? Are you making sure you set aside some time just for you and to do something you enjoy? As long as you take the time to fit both of these into your schedule at healthy intervals, you are most definitely taking care of yourself.