What comes to mind when you think of self care? Sitting down with a good book? Getting a massage or a facial? Journaling?
These are all great examples, but there is so much more to it! Self care involves anything you do to improve your overall health and well-being, which extends beyond the typical activities that come to mind at first.
To make sure you are taking a holistic approach to your health, you should practice some forms of self care within each pillar of wellness. In this blog, we are going to go over what the pillars of wellness are and habits you can adopt to elevate your self care routine.
Physical
Our physical health includes nutrition, exercise, sleep, immunity, injury prevention, and managing chronic health conditions. Practicing self-care within this pillar could include something relaxing like a massage. However, self-care is not always going to be something you want to do. For example, you may not feel like waking up early to go to the gym before work, but know you’ll feel better afterwards if you do. Doing the things you don’t always feel like doing but will benefit your health is still a form of self-care!
Here are some other things you can do to practice self-care within this pillar:
- Go to bed 30 minutes earlier so you can wake up feeling more refreshed and ready to take on your day.
- Take 1 hour to meal prep this weekend so you have healthy meals for this week.
- Make an appointment with your primary care provider to get in for your annual wellness visit.
- Book a facial.
- Make it a priority to practice yoga for 10 minutes before you go to bed.
Social
Studies show that having healthy relationships improves longevity. We all want to develop meaningful connections with people and scheduling time to spend time with the people we care about is a form of self-care. Having these meaningful relationships is incredibly important for our health and well-being.
Here are ways you can improve your social wellness:
- Join a club or take a new class to meet people and for new connections.
- Schedule time to see your friends and family as often as you can. When it’s on the calendar, it’ll be more likely to happen.
- Put your phone down when you are spending time with people so you can connect better.
- Start smiling at strangers! Smiling will not only make others happy, but will bring more joy to your life too.
Emotional
Life likes to throw curve balls at us, and these curve balls usually bring big emotions. When we make a conscious effort to work on our emotional wellness, we are better able to handle anything life throws at us and react in a healthy way for ourselves and those around us.
Some self-care practices to improve your emotional wellness include:
- Journaling to reflect on your emotions and behaviors.
- Observe your emotions before reacting to small situations so the bigger ones feel less overwhelming.
- Going to therapy to emotionally vent to someone and get advice is extraordinarily helpful for improving your emotional health.
- Talking to a friend is also great for helping you feel less alone during tough times. Fostering those connections.
Vocational
Liking your job or finding something you enjoy that you can do everyday at work has proven benefits such as improved immunity, mental health, sleep, happiness, and motivation.
To improve your vocational wellness, never settle! Always keep working towards what you want in a career. If that is not in the cards for you immediately, you can work on this pillar by forming connections with your coworkers, putting time into hobbies you enjoy, and setting goals for the future.
Financial
Financial stress can have negative effects on your immune system, mood, decision making abilities, and quality of sleep. Creating a plan for finances and sticking to it is key to improving your financial wellness. Thinking about finances is probably the last thing you want to think about some days, but planning will save you lots of stress in the future!
Want to stress less by saving money and improving your financial wellness? Try these tips:
- Create and update your budget
- Prioritize paying off debt
- Start using a spending tracker
- Plan for major purchases
Spiritual
Your sense of purpose, life meaning, morals, and beliefs encompass your spiritual wellness. Practicing self-care within this pillar of wellness will help you feel more grounded and connected to yourself on a deeper level.
Here are some self-care habits you can practice to improve your spiritual wellness:
- Practice pausing throughout your day to just take a breath and be present.
- Meditate by sitting and observing your thoughts to see what comes up.
- Go on a walk without your headphones to connect to yourself and nature.
- Write down your top three values and reflect on them often. Decide whether your actions align with your values.
- Add yoga to your exercise routine to help you connect to your body.
- Volunteering can help increase your sense of purpose.
Intellectual
Continually engaging your mind and expanding your knowledge is an important aspect of wellness that many people do not think about. It can be fun too!
- Working on puzzles
- Taking a class to learn something new with a group of friends
- Going to museums to learn more about history and culture
Environmental
When we make a conscious effort to make changes to benefit the environment, we are creating a safer and sustainable place to live. Here are some habits that you can work improving the health of the environment:
- Keep your environment clear: Reduce waste, recycle, and avoid littering.
- Adopt a plant-based lifestyle: Eating this kind of diet will not only benefit the environment, but your health as well!
- Bike or walk instead of driving.
- Start using reusable bags, cups, containers, and utensils.
- Save water by turning off the water when brushing your teeth or scrubbing the dishes
It can be challenging to focus on all 8 pillars at once. That’s why setting SMART goals that focus on 1-2 pillars at a time is a great way to start. If your employees are struggling to make and maintain changes to their health, B.Komplete can help. Any change that takes away from one of the other pillars is going to be hard to maintain. We can help your employees improve their health by taking a holistic approach to wellness. Work with B.Komplete and you’ll see how the Pillars of Wellness can transform your workforce! Email us to learn more!