Valentine’s Day is a time to honor our loved ones through expressions of love, affection, and kind gestures. While it’s common to celebrate romantic, familial, or platonic relationships during this time, it should also be used as a time for self-love and self-care. While you’re out there celebrating your loved ones or yourself during this season, here’s something to remember: self-care shouldn’t just be celebrated now. It should be an everyday practice.
Life can get overwhelming. While it’s not always easy to manage the ins and outs of your family’s lives, it is important to manage the stress you experience as a result. This is why prioritizing yourself and your health is important. You need to take care of yourself first in order to take good care of others. Putting others first, whether that’s your spouse, children, friends, or workplace, can quickly lead to burnout, anxiety, and even health problems. That’s where these self-care ideas become critical to your health.
Self-care has been trending upward in recent years as people prioritize their overall health. In general, self-care includes the actions you take for yourself to improve your own health—whether that’s physical, mental, or emotional—without direction or supervision by a healthcare professional. It can range from behaviors, like optimizing sleep and eating healthy, to more specific activities like exercise, taking a break from digital exposure, and managing stress. Self-care is, quite simply, essential for your overall health and wellbeing.
Why? Because not taking care of yourself can lead to health problems, especially if they’re caused by stress. A weakened immune system, nausea, weight gain, and eczema are a few symptoms that can result from chronic stress. In addition, inflammation, arthritis, psoriasis, and IBD are all strongly linked to unmanaged high stress levels as well. [1]
Simple, Affordable Self-Care Ideas
When you think of self-care, do you think of monthly massages, facials, “retail therapy,” and other expensive ways to pamper yourself? While those can be great ways to treat yourself—and some, like the massages, are even good for your health—those stereotypes aren’t what we’re talking about. When we discuss self-care, we mean the smaller-scale things you can do regularly that directly benefit your health. Along with being more affordable, some of the most effective self-care routines are just plain simple and easy to implement. Here are some practical, affordable self-care ideas that you can easily fit into your daily routine.
Instead of: Signing up for an expensive gym or Pilates membership
Try this: Get your movement in wherever you are
The good thing about movement and exercise is that it can basically be done anywhere! Work in a multi-story building? Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Pushups, sit-ups, planks, and squats can all be done anywhere without any equipment needed. Practice daily stretching to keep muscles flexible and healthy, as well as to offset some of the effects of your daily habits, like if you sit at a desk all day.
Instead of: Buying an expensive mattress or high-end sheets
Try this: Start with creating a healthy sleep environment and routine
Good, quality sleep is essential to your overall health. That’s why a healthy sleep routine is one of the most important things to do for a self-care routine. Going to bed at the same time every night helps right your circadian rhythm. Turning off all devices to avoid blue light emitted from screens a couple of hours before bed will help signal your brain that it’s time to shut down. Creating a quiet, dark environment—even if you need to use earplugs or an eye mask for it—will help you sleep undisturbed.
Instead of: Pricey spa services
Try this: Create your own at-home spa routine
Brushing your teeth and skincare routines are already something you do on a daily basis, so why not take it up a notch? Whether that’s undereye masks, clay masks, sugar scrubs, Epsom salt baths, or using a massage gun tool, create your own routine that will help your body relax.
Instead of: Ordering delivery so you don’t have to cook
Try this: Focus on simple, healthy meals that are easy
We understand the temptation of ordering delivery so that you don’t need to cook for your family. But cooking and eating healthy doesn’t have to be complex. Do a little work on the front end to meal prep and plan healthy options, and keep plenty of healthy snacks on hand. Fresh foods, protein, and healthy fats should be part of your plans. And while it may be a little more effort, remember that cooking for your family will be healthier and save you money in the long run.
Instead of: Attending a costly wellness retreat
Try this: Do a digital detox and have a quiet night in
Spending some time in quiet is important, but you don’t need a getaway to do it. Turn off your phone and television and grab a book or gratitude journal and spend time with yourself without the distraction of screens. If a whole day, or even just an evening, sounds like too much, start with setting your phone aside for at least an hour or two.
Don’t get us wrong, gym memberships, expensive mattresses, spa services, ordering delivery, and attending wellness retreats aren’t bad options. In fact, they can all be great options if you have the time and money for them. However, they’re not practical for everyone to put into a regular routine. Find the routines and the products that best fit your life and your budget.
Remember that self-care isn’t selfish. It’s putting yourself first, your health first, because your health needs to be a priority to lead a productive, fulfilling, vigorous life. Take your favorite self-care ideas and make them your own, and soon you’ll have your own personal self-care routine that you’ll look forward to completing. It’s all about creating routines and habits that promote your health and happiness.
Valentine’s Day is a time to be kind, loving, and attentive towards those in our lives. Don’t forget that that includes yourself. You don’t need to spend a lot on self-care or do anything elaborate for it to be effective. Prioritizing sleep, healthy eating, movement, and taking time to focus on yourself are the pillars of effective self-care. Oftentimes, consistent, intentional actions that you put into routine will be the most effective ones.
Reference
1. Cleveland Clinic Yes, There Is Such a Thing as Stress Sickness. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-when-your-immune-system-gets-stressed-out
