Prioritizing Your Health
Written by Lanna Wei
The Importance of Self-Care
“What is self-care, and why should I focus on it?” That was the question I found myself asking a few years ago as an incoming middle schooler. Self-care includes practicing activities that boosts your esteem, productivity, and overall happiness. It involves adding simple methods into daily activities that improves your means of life and mental/physical well-being. Oftentimes, taking care of oneself isn’t a priority, especially for women in the 20th century. Prioritizing your health is not only for yourself but also for the benefits of others in your life. Without properly taking care of your own needs, you cannot relay good health onto a different person.
One important aspect of self-care is realizing that the smallest positive changes can lead to healthy habits that can be established for the greater good. These habits, along with your surrounding environment, lead to success and happiness for your future. By building up simple routines that benefit your health, self-care can also assist many factors of daily life. It can help managing stress (which takes an extreme toll on people’s bodies), improving your relationships, and increasing your vitality. You may also find improvements such as better digestion, feelings of increased independence and happiness, and also longer and more peaceful sleep.
One should remember that self-care is not about suddenly going to the gym every day, eating only “healthy”’ foods, and spending time productively. Prioritizing self-care is prioritizing yourself, your happiness, and your future.
Positive Changes to Make
There are many good ways you can prioritize your own health, and practicing just a few could result in many positive changes. For example, changing/or adding in a few healthy additions to your diet can have a positive and drastic effect, making you feel more energized, productive, and overall a more joyful person to be around. Alongside to this idea, getting in more exercise such as hiking with friends or participating in a sport can also boost your ability to do everyday activities and improves your mood.
Another habit to take care of your health is to create morning/evening routines and prioritize your sleep. These routines can include steps such as making your bed, working out, brushing your teeth, doing your skincare, and other options. They can make you feel prepared for your day and decrease stress levels, while proving beneficial as a strategy of self-care. Some people also like to incorporate steps such as journaling about your day or decluttering your space and make you feel more productive.
Finally, a change that’ll definitely improve your health for the better is quitting things such as smoking, drinking, or taking drugs. Not only can they cause problems such as long/heart disease, cancer, and injuries, they are very mentally damaging. Addictions such as these cause a lot of stress, anxiety, etc. and don’t allow one to feel the best of themselves. Overall, self-care and prioritizing your health is extremely important and should be adapted into people’s lives.
Some fun self-care ideas include:
Going on a walk while listening to music
Cook your favorite meal
Try a face mask
Read a personal growth book
Try Yoga
Light a candle and relax
Play a board game