Self-care means something different to everyone. For some, it looks like binge-watching your favorite show or treating yourself to a sweet snack. This year, however, it’s time to go beyond the basics and take care of yourself in more meaningful ways.
Try these five holistic self-care practices to nourish your mind, body, and spirit in long-lasting ways.
1. Nourish Your Mind Through Nutrition
Food influences mood, emotions, and mental wellness more than people think. This is due to the gut-brain axis, a complex network that connects the digestive tract and the brain. In fact, around 95 percent of the body’s serotonin originates in the gut.
As gut microbes digest the food, they produce neurochemicals that regulate learning and memory. A simple imbalance in gut bacteria can contribute to increased feelings of anxiety and depression.
To eat clean and healthy, make sure you consume enough fiber, because it is the primary food source of healthy gut bacteria. Foods high in fiber include oats, beans, fruits with edible skins like apples, brown rice, sweet potato, and broccoli.
Additionally, make sure to incorporate meals with fermented food, which are high in probiotics or good bacteria. Some fermented foods you can add are kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, and pickles.
2. Practice Self-Acceptance
Caring for the physical self is a great way to support self-esteem and confidence. It’s more than just vanity or responding to external pressures—it’s about closing the gap between what you feel about yourself and what you project to the outside world. Feeling that your skin is healthy and vibrant can free up mental and emotional energy from feeling self-conscious.
Because we’re constantly barraged with a slew of products, treatments, and more that can make us feel less than, it’s important to practice self-acceptance. Part of that comes from understanding the unrealistic beauty expectations created by marketing, social media, AI, and living in a capitalistic society. Identify negative self-talk and silence your inner critic with positive affirmations and showing the same compassion to yourself that you would show a friend.
3. Engage in Non-Goal-Oriented Play
Make sure to engage in your hobbies with joy and creativity rather than focusing on the outcome. This mindset is the perfect antidote to the endless and demanding hustle culture. Quieting your inner perfectionist critic could actually help you enter the flow state where you’re freely exploring and having fun in the process.
The skill of ignoring rumination and self-criticism can be especially helpful for other areas of work and life. A few activities you can try are:
- Watercolor painting
- Pottery
- Freewriting
- Playing an instrument
Remember, you don’t have to be good in order to have fun. Draw an object without ever looking at the paper. Color outside the lines. Use different pens for your journal. Craft an imperfect bowl. Simply embrace the childlike wonder in doing these activities.
Other activities where you can incorporate play are through cooking, fashion, building community, and fitness. You don’t have to follow strict regimens promoted by fitness influencers. Instead, do physical exercises that you love, like swimming, yoga, dancing, or even simply walking. Feeling down? Maybe spicing up your outfit with a fun hat and a colorful top can brighten up your day.
4. Create a Tech-Free Evening Ritual
To have a truly effective rest, make sure you are rigorous in delineating your time—work, socializing, hobbies, chores, rest, and other life activities. Enforcing a tech-free evening creates a psychological buffer between a productive day and a restorative night. It’s about signaling your brain that work is done, and you can finally rest from the digital world’s endless noise.
To ensure the success of your ritual, designate a specific time and spot where you’ll place all your gadgets. This way, you don’t have to negotiate with yourself about spending just five more minutes on your phone. Additionally, plan fun non-digital activities you can do in your downtime, like reading books, journaling, or chatting with your partner.
If a situation doesn’t allow you a tech-free evening, that’s okay. Try to avoid screens at least an hour before bed for deeper sleep.
5. Practice Shinrin-Yoku or Forest Bathing
Shinrin-Yoku is basically sensory immersion in the natural world through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Simply being outside can work wonders. About two hours spent in nature a week is enough time to see improvements in your health and wellbeing.
A mindfulness exercise you can do is to name five things you see, four things you can feel, three things you hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This forces you to slow down and walk aimlessly. Some other things you can do during your forest bathing activity are:
- Observe the colors of the sunset
- Touch a tree’s bark
- Feel the wind
- Listen to the birds chirping
- Feel the coolness of a sip of water
Your Self-Care, Your System
Holistic self-care is not about doing everything. It’s about building a personal set of systems and routines that work for you. These practices should improve your overall wellbeing and address your unique needs.
Try doing one or two at first and notice the impact. The effort you have invested will be evident as you become a more confident and self-assured version of yourself.
