9 Types of Self-Care & How to Practice

What Is Self-Care?

Self-care involves maintaining and improving our health to handle all life throws at us. When we hear the term, many of us chalk self-care up to little more than treat-yourself ice creams and spontaneous shopping sprees. But self-care isn’t the same as self-indulgence, and there are many different types of self-care to choose from.

We live in a world that can demand much of us in our waking hours. If we’re not careful, we can lose ourselves in busy schedules, social obligations, and work commitments. We may begin to neglect our well-being, leaving us feeling burnt-out, unhappy, and disconnected. Self-care is a big part of the solution!

What Are the Benefits of Self-Care?

Studies have found that regular self-care reduces stress, lowers one’s risk of illness, and improves energy levels.¹ Getting good habits into gear generally boosts our self-confidence, leading to greater happiness and productivity. Everyone’s choice of self-care methods will vary, but it is a good idea to implement something small every day. This way, it will become a natural part of your everyday living.

The benefits of self-care may include:

• Healthier relationships: Taking care of yourself first is an important, though overlooked, aspect of being able to take care of others. You may be surprised how energy invested in yourself can produce greater energy to invest in the people around you, and healthier relationships overall.
• Improved physical health: Self-care practices pack a punch against heart disease, stroke, and cancer, with researchers finding reduced rates of these disorders in those who regularly practice it.²
• Higher self-esteem: It makes sense that if we invest time and resources into things that increase our self-esteem and make us feel more relaxed, capable, and organized as human beings, we’ll feel better about who we are.
• Improved discipline: Not only do we reap the direct benefits of our self-care methods, but we also gain vital mental fortitude from witnessing ourselves doing things that are good for us that we might not always want to do at the moment.

9 Types of Self-Care

We wear a lot of hats in our daily lives. We’re clocking in for work, sweating it out at the gym, corralling clutter at home, wrangling the bills, catching up on the news, and even snagging a late-night Netflix episode. These different tasks can deplete us, but they have just as much potential to revitalize us if we infuse them with self-care.

Here are nine different types of self-care:

1. Emotional Self-Care

Emotional self-care involves giving your inner emotions room to breathe and voice themselves. Have you ever found yourself repressing what you feel in everyday life? Or wearing a mask in social situations? Or maybe even denying the emotion that you’re experiencing? Yep, we’ve all been there. And bottling up your feelings, or repressing anger, usually doesn’t end well.

What should you do instead? Allow yourself moments to tune in to how you feel. For example, if you are feeling stressed about an upcoming project, don’t run away from this feeling. Have an honest internal dialogue with yourself instead, and allow yourself to express the feeling however you need to. Admit the emotions that are present and calmly accept their existence.

Below are examples of emotional self-care:

• Journaling
• Practicing positive daily affirmations
• Using a gratitude app
• Enjoying laughs with friends
• Talking through your emotions with a therapist

2. Financial Self-Care

If you want to get technical, money is the substance that takes care of your basic needs. But it understandably causes a lot of stress for some of us! Financial management as a form of self-care might seem a new idea at first, but after reflecting on how much anxiety money issues can cause, it can make a lot of sense.

Setting aside time to map where your money is going, reflecting on your spending priorities, and determining what needs to be done to reach your financial goals are all ways of taking care of yourself. Many people find these tasks queasy to contemplate but feel relieved after completing them. In addition, feeling more secure and knowledgeable around money can help prevent sticky situations such as financial abuse.

Below are examples of financial self-care:

• Setting aside money for investments each month
• Using an app to help track your finances
• Utilizing a financial professional when you need guidance
• Setting financial goals for yourself (monthly, yearly, and so forth)
• Cutting out unnecessary expenses

3. Spiritual Self-Care

For many, spirituality and religion are important mental restoration and continuity avenues. Spiritual self-care habits can give individuals a crucial sense of structure and meaning, providing a space to let go of anxieties and fears. While religiosity is one avenue of spirituality, it is hardly the only one.

For some, spirituality can be as simple as communing with nature or practicing meditation. Whatever form it takes for us, it holds both grounding and healing potential in the rush of our busy lives.

Below are examples of spiritual self-care:

• Meditation
• Listening to religious music
• Daily devotional/religious reading
• Joining a religious community
• Participating in an outdoor yoga class

4. Professional & Academic Self-Care

It’s common for our jobs or educational careers to sap up most of our energy during the workday, leading to either work burnout or college burnout. We’re inundated by new tasks, the pressure to perform, and the various financial entanglements of these duties. In the ambitious, career-centered land of America, it can be especially difficult to set boundaries and carve out pockets of self-care around these obligations.

Choosing a satisfactory work-life balance takes careful effort, but the benefits are undoubtedly worth it. More energy, less stress, and greater confidence to handle new demands will likely come our way. And guess what? When this happens, we have more attention to give to the other domains of our lives (and they’re equally important)!

Below are examples of professional self-care:

• Setting specific office hours
• Making a realistic, manageable daily agenda
• Saying ‘no’ to extra projects you don’t have time for
• Recognizing and celebrating your small accomplishments
• Trying the Pomodoro time-management technique

5. Mental Self-Care

Once we exit the cozy confines of our educational institutions it can become quite easy to neglect “staying sharp.” And many low-grade digital diversions are competing for our attention spans at every moment. However, we also know that mental self-care, such as spending time learning something new or stretching our brains in new ways can nurture our intellectual curiosities and, in turn, enrich our lives.

Below are examples of mental self-care:

• Listening to a podcast
• Doing a crossword puzzle
• Reading a thought-provoking book
• Engaging others in conversation about topics you would love to learn more about
• Visiting museums and historical sites

6. Physical Self-Care

We’re well-acquainted with the importance of self-care when our bodies become physically sick. We pay extra attention to getting adequate sleep, staying hydrated, and feeding ourselves nourishing foods. What if we extended that sense of physical self-care and attention to the rest of our lives? For some of us, exercise is vital to our daily routine.

Besides keeping us limber, regular exercise contains a host of psychological benefits. Endorphins rush anyone?³ Even if hitting the gym isn’t your thing, a relaxing evening walk may be. And physical self-care isn’t limited to exercise, either. Something as simple as prioritizing a skincare routine also fits into this realm. Whatever helps maintain or rejuvenate our bodily mechanics can be considered valuable physical self-care.

Below are examples of physical self-care:

• Joining a workout class
• Taking a daily walk with your significant other, kids, or dog
• Staying up-to-date on regular doctor, dentist, and optometrist appointments
• Scheduling an occasional spa day
• Setting a healthy sleep schedule

7. Environmental Self-Care

It’s true that self-care entails wresting some mastery over our bodies and minds. What we often forget, however, is the extent to which we can master our environments as well! The cool thing is that when we focus on environmental self-care, we care for the things around us and in turn we inadvertently care for ourselves.

Environmental self-care can be a powerful self-soother. But it’s also a helpful starting point when focusing on ourselves feels too daunting. It can take the form of practical, straightforward steps that benefit those around us, too.

Below are examples of environmental self-care:

• Doing a quick house tidying-up before going to bed
• Assigning regular monthly or quarterly organizational tasks (cleaning out closets, junk drawers, paper stacks, and so forth)
• Organizing digital files, emails, and notes regularly
• Making dinnertime a priority, tuning out distractions, clearing the table, lighting a candle, and so forth
• Making the bed every morning

8. Recreational Self-Care

Stepping away from the many roles and responsibilities we are shouldered with throughout the day and making time for recreational self-care like our hobbies and pastimes is an important way to nurture our inner lives. Many fall prey to assuming that we don’t “deserve” such avenues and can push our recreations into the future, believing them to be indulgent “extras.”

Your recreation choices may vary, but never be afraid to prioritize them. Your creativity can affect mental health, and you may desperately need this outlet! Some may gain considerable psychological fulfillment from their professional work lives, while others may need to turn to their recreational pursuits to achieve the same satisfaction.

Below are examples of recreational self-care:

• Watching a favorite movie
• Painting, drawing, or sculpting
• Playing a team sport
• Gardening
• Baking a fun treat

9. Social Self-Care

Being in a relationship with other humans has been part of life since our very beginnings. We all need social self-care and time with other humans, but we all differ in the amount and type of social interaction that we desire. Introverts may prefer more alone time, and their self-care may look like saying ‘no’ to one social invite too many and spending the evening alone to avoid introvert burnout.

On the other hand, extroverts may require some weekend socializing as a vital means of relaxation and re-charging for the week ahead. Social self-care can certainly entail building meaningful relationships, but it can also be about mending strained relationships and ending potentially damaging ones.

Below are examples of recreational self-care:

• Joining local MeetUp groups
• Planning a fun weekend with friends
• Setting healthy boundaries in relationships
• Ending toxic relationships
• Setting phone reminders to avoid forgetting to check-in with friends

Self-Care Vs Self-Indulgence

You may avoid practicing self-care because you view it negatively and perceive it as mere pleasure-seeking. On the other hand, you may be someone whose self-care practices too often toe the line of problematic self-indulgence to the degree that you’re not reaping the health benefits you could.

It’s good to remember that the two have very different mentalities! Self-care is intentional and balanced and packaged with a preventative philosophy. Self-indulgence is far more passive, given erratic actions and a flimsy rationale. Self-care practices are characterized by deliberate engagement and an underlying health motivation rather than pleasure-seeking.

How Therapy Can Help You Practice Self-Care

One of the most significant investments you can make into your self-care is making the leap to start therapy. There, you can find vital support and guidance for any mental health concerns you may be dealing with and a helping hand in implementing self-care practices into your daily life if self-compassion and self-advocacy aren’t your strong suit.

If you’re someone considering therapy, it’s worth taking the time to find the right therapist for you and the kind of therapy that you are likely to get the most benefit from!