We’ll be looking at what roles social media plays when it comes to your mental health.
Hello,
Firstly, thank you to all of our LTM readers! It’s been over a year since we began these letters and it’s been such a pleasure! Here’s to many more!
We hear the term “self-care” a lot in the mental health space. If you are getting constant reminders to practice it, it can feel daunting and overwhelming! Today, let’s break down what self-care actually means and how you can easily apply it to your daily life.
Self-care is defined as anything you do to take care of yourself so you can stay physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy. To be even more specific, it is any action that is being done intentionally and consciously for the purpose of caring for yourself. The benefits of self-care for your mental health are plentiful, such as offering stress relief and improved quality of life.
Unfortunately, we are often taught that self-care is a luxury and not a necessity. Consequently, this results in many people's basic needs not being met. It’s important to shift our belief system from thinking of it as something for special occasions, to realizing it is something we should prioritize. To access the full benefits of self-care, it needs to be done regularly.
Generally speaking, there are 5 kinds of self-care: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and mental. People may also refer to something known as the Seven Pillars of Self-Care (which we will take a look at below). It can be difficult to find time to consistently care for yourself. However, there are simple acts of self-care that you can integrate into your daily routine.Examples of these might look like making sure you’re getting enough sleep, making time for hobbies, taking care of your hygiene, and checking in with yourself and your emotions. Additionally, this would include evaluating where you can make time for yourself (even for 5 minutes of the day)!
Self-care doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective and it shouldn’t feel like a chore or another stressor. You know yourself best, so you know what you enjoy doing and what makes you feel good! If you’d like to learn more about self-care including easy strategies, the science behind it, and more, follow the links below!
Helping Hands
Client Corner
Some kind words about Cognito from a client:
We hope you enjoyed this month's Letter to Myself! If you have monthly themes you’d like to see in the future, please send an email to lettertomyself@getcognito.ca to submit your idea.
.png)
