What Is Self Care Anyway? And Why You Need It

Your frazzled.  You feel like you don’t have time to breathe, let alone time for yourself.  You may be working all the time or dealing with college and trying to make good grades or just get ahead in all of life’s stress.  Trying to find time for yourself may seem like to lofty of a goal right now and you may be too anxious to even try to calm down.  People keep telling you that you need to practice self-care, but what does that even look like?

I hear a lot about self-care all the time and I want you to know that self-care is important, but what is self-care?  Is it long bubble baths all the time? Is it scrolling Facebook for hours?  Well, it can be long bubble baths and it can be zoning out for a little bit, but it’s much more than that.  It’s putting yourself first for a change.  It’s taking time to breathe and focus on making your body and mind healthy and well.

What Does Self care mean?

That may mean taking an extra long shower or going outside and sitting on your porch in the sun for half an hour.  That may mean taking the time to read a book that’s been on your list for ages.  Self-care comes in many shapes and forms, but the main goal of self-care is actively taking the time to focus your energy on yourself and staying healthy and refreshed in life.

I recommend participating in some form of self-care every day.  That could be as simple as taking a longer shower or taking a shower at all.  Use your smell good soap for your shower.  If brunch is your thing, take the time to go out to brunch with your friends on Sunday and relax and enjoy the good company.

Self-care is important because it refreshes your mind and it allows you to focus on your own needs.  Because, you have needs that are important to be able to stay emotionally well.  If you are in college or working everyday and have a stressful job or class schedule, you need to take time for yourself away from work and school.

For my own self-care, I like to bake and go to concerts.  Baking is great because it allows you to focus on something that produces a product that you can be proud of that you spent time making.  I recommend taking at least twenty minutes everyday to focus on making yourself happy and healthy.  Take longer if you have a day off work or school.

How Does Self Care Help?

Self-care can relieve your anxiety and the pressure you feel to constantly be doing for other people.  Self-care can be helpful if you have depression because it’s hard to focus on your health when you are depressed, and you really need to set goals to take care of yourself when you are depressed.

If you are transgender or non-binary and have gender dysphoria, it can be hard to take care of the body you have if it’s not what it is supposed to be. It can feel daunting to even take a shower or shave because you must look in the mirror.  My clients sometimes have a hard time with self-care when they are going through their gender transition because their bodies don’t align with who they really are.

It’s still important to take care of your needs.  It’s important to shower and take care of your body.  The insides of your body are still going to be the same insides of your body after you transition, so it’s necessary to still take care of your body.

Reaching Out For Help

If you are having a hard time with self-care and feel like sometimes life can be overwhelming, or if you are transgender and have gender dysphoria and need someone to talk to, reach out to me.  I offer a free consultation to talk with you about your concerns and we can get started with therapy, so you can get back to feeling like yourself.  You can get back to feeling whole again.  You can reach me at 404-800-7586 or through the contact page here.

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Decatur, GA 30030

katie@katieleikam.com
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