Why You Can’t Live Without Self-Care

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Welcome back to the fifth and final day of my self care strategies series.

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Missed day one, two, three, or four? Find them here to learn some strategies for taking care of yourself!

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Self-care is frequently branded as an important element for your health and wellbeing. However, do you know exactly what benefits it provides?

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There’s a lot more to self-care than you might realize and the benefits it can deliver are diverse. Here, I’ll reveal some of the reasons why you need self-care in your life and the benefits it delivers.

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Improving your health

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When you practice self-care, it’s going to do wonders for your health. Remember to focus on what’s most important to you. For many people this is going to revolve around their health. You’ll get to work on any health issues you’ve been experiencing and adopt the necessary steps to improve them. For me, I really wanted to focus on my eating habits. I was in college and eating as any college kid does, and unfortunately when I left, I kept up those unhealthy habits. I wanted to focus on clean eating. In turn, I had more energy, wanted to work out more, lost some weight, and was getting sick less.

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As you improve your physical health, you’ll start to get fewer colds and sicknesses. Your immune system will become stronger as you’ll be activating your Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). This basically puts the body into a rest and rejuvenation mode, enabling it to recover from the hectic pace of our daily lives.

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Adequate self-care will improve both your physical and mental health, while also giving those energy levels a much-needed boost.

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Increased productivity

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Do you struggle to be as productive as you should be? If so, self-care can help to increase productivity. You’ll start to learn to become more focused and concentrate better on the tasks at hand.

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Self-care is also about learning to say no. This can really help to free up your schedule, leaving more time to focus on the things that really matter. You’ll learn to slow down and not over-exert yourself.

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This increased productivity will positively impact both your professional life and your home life.

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Greater self-esteem

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In a world which constantly makes us feel that we’re not good enough, self-care can help to improve self-esteem. When you take care of yourself, it really boosts confidence and makes you feel much better about yourself. That is why it’s so important to cater your self care to yourself. If we try to follow someone else’s plan it will just make us feel like a failure for not being able to accomplish it. Remember, self care should be activities you actually enjoy! Otherwise, it’s not self-care, it’s work.

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Self-care forces you to make yourself a priority. You’ll develop a much healthier relationship with yourself, sending positive messages to your subconscious mind. If you tend to have a pattern of negative self-talk, self-care can help you to dismiss that critical voice and develop a more positive outlook.

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Stress reduction

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There’s no denying that life today can get pretty stressful. Whether it’s down to financial worries or you’re struggling to keep up with the hectic pace of life; stress has become a common symptom most of us have to live with. However, the right self-care can help you to drastically reduce the stress in your life.

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Long-term stress can have a devastating impact on your health. It can interrupt your sleep, negatively impact the immune system and lead to mental health problems. So, reducing it is key to living a healthy and happy life.

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Self-care enables you to take time out to recharge and de-stress. You’ll focus on activities which specifically aim to reduce stress levels, such as meditating, journaling and taking time to do whatever it is you enjoy.

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Healthier relationships

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Finally, another benefit of self-care is that it leads to healthier relationships. It allows you to assess your relationships and identify areas that need to be improved.

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As you’ll be taking the time needed to look after yourself, you’ll also be in a much better position to give. You can’t be the best person for your loved ones if you’re running on empty. Take care of yourself so you can take care of somebody else!

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You’ll be able to improve your romantic relationships, your relationship with your friends and your family relationships. You’ll also learn how to let negative people go from your life and surround yourself with people who uplift and inspire you. Practicing self care has definitely allowed my fiancé and I to improve our relationship. We both recognize when we need some time to rest and reset. This has allowed us to reduce any arguments and grow as a couple.

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These are just some of the reasons why self-care is important. It has the power to improve every aspect of your life. Without taking care of yourself, it’s impossible to live a healthy, happy life. So, if self-care isn’t a part of your daily routine, now’s definitely the time to change that.

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Remember to make your self-care personal to you! Take care of yourself so you can take care of somebody else.

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Do you have some ideas that I might be missing? Let me know!

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Looking for more self-care tips and strategies? Check out my other posts in this self care series here!

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Missed day one, two, three, or four? Check them out here.