Life can be stressful and at times feel overwhelming. While you may want to turn your situation around and improve your mental well-being by making some big changes – relocating to a different country, quitting your job, changing your lifestyle – these might be unrealistic and daunting.

Instead, consider making small changes in your life. The small choices you make every day can have a big impact on your life as well.

One small but important choice you can make to improve your overall physical, mental, and emotional health, is self-care. Research shows that engaging in self-care activities can not only promote positive health outcomes, but also foster resilience in individuals to better manage stress.

We often see information online on the myriad of different self-care activities you could choose from depending on what works best for you. But if you’re unsure where and how to start, we’re here to help!

There are five areas of self-care:

Emotional / Psychological

• Emotional self-care is the act of nurturing and tending to your inner feelings and emotions. Improving this can lead to better self-awareness.
• Activities that cultivate emotional/psychological self-care: Intentionally pay more attention to and address your emotional needs (eg. speaking up about something bothering you, removing yourself from a stressful situation).

Cognitive / Learning

• Cognitive self-care is the act of continuous learning in order to exercise our brains – leading to improved concentration, better recall, and stronger critical thinking skills.
• Activities that cultivate cognitive/learning self-care: Reading, doing challenging puzzles, listening to podcasts, learning a new language or musical instrument, trying a new hobby, or teaching and tutoring others.

Social

• Social self-care involves building good interpersonal, communication, and conflict resolution skills, allowing you to better convey your thoughts with clarity and confidence.
• Activities that cultivate social self-care: Take steps to deepen relationships with others. Consider: “who understands and listens to me in my family?” “What is the one thing I can do regularly to stay connected with others?”

Spiritual

• Spiritual self-care encourages introspection and offers clarity and comfort. Nurturing this area can increase compassion and empathy.
• Activities that cultivate spiritual self-care: Journaling your reflections, mindfulness, praying.

Physical

• Physical self-care involves taking care of your physical body and can lead to increased energy, reduced stress, better life expectancy, and prevention of disease.
• Activities that cultivate physical self-care: Regular exercise – which can release endorphins and decrease production of stress hormones like cortisol, cultivate better sleep hygiene, and scheduling annual health check-ups.

Have you been neglecting an area of self-care in your life?

If you have, it’s alright. It’s never too late to start now. Begin by assessing your basic and core needs based on the five areas mentioned above. Next, plan and note down some customised strategies for yourself based on the suggested activities you think are suitable. Lastly, take small steps to schedule the changes you want to make into your daily routine. You will surely see a change for the better in your mental well-being after focusing more on self-care!

If you’ve tried these methods and still feel overwhelmed, we are here to provide you with professional counselling support. For more information, click here.