Self-care is all the rage all the time these days! It's such an essential aspect of your self-development and maintaining your mental health. Often a few shifts in awareness are all it takes to get more self-care into your day-to-day life. But for many people, self-care tends to take a back burner to other "priorities," and it can lead to burnout. 

To really understand and develop your self-care routine, you need to understand the fundamentals of self-care and why it's crucial. Let's talk about the 5 different dimensions of self-care so you can get more inspired in creating your self-care and dating yourself routine.

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The 5 dimensions of self-care

Self-care is so much more than bubble baths and having a good cry. While those can be important, self-care is multidimensional and full of attractive opportunities for uniqueness. There are different categories like developing intimacy with a partner or intimacy with yourself. These categories can make it easier for you to figure out where things feel "out of whack" in your life and start to improve on those things.

Also, similar to love languages, some of these forms of self-care and self-intimacy may be more important to you than other aspects. For example, perhaps you're a spiritual person who needs a half-hour of crystal-based meditation daily. But you don't consider goal-setting to be your strength or your priority. Fabulous, you've got your own recipe for forms of self-care already! 

For you to understand the 5 dimensions of self-care better, let's talk about each of them in-depth to make this easier for you to understand.

Self-care dimension #1: your physical self

It shouldn't come as a surprise that your physical body needs serious self-care. By investing in your long-term health with regular strength training, cardio, and stretching, you can live a longer, fuller, and more erotic life. 

Regular exercise has been shown to help improve your mental health. It can make you feel more confident and help you live longer. 

So why don't we exercise and move our bodies more? Often because we're too tired.

Another part of taking care of your physical self is getting enough rest and giving your body everything it needs. Listen to your body and try to feed it feel-good soul food that nourishes your physical self. 

What it can look like:

• Exercise

• Stretching

• Sex

• Masturbation

• Taking your vitamins

• Eating a healthy meal

• Sleeping

• Taking naps

• Letting your body rest

• Getting a mani/Pedi

• Taking a bath

• Drinking more water

When you're taking care of your physical self, it can be the most easily rewarding.

You can start to see and feel the differences almost immediately.

So if you feel like you're lacking in the physical self-care dimension, add something to your weekly self-care routine. Even something small can help improve your connection between your mental and physical self.

Self-care dimension #2: your emotional self

A little less simplistic and straightforward, your emotional self takes and deserves a lot of self-care. Your emotional self has much to do with your inner child and taking care of that ever-changing tide of your emotional well-being. 

While it may not seem as straightforward as fueling your body, it is crucial that you incorporate some types of emotional self-care into your regular routines.

What it can look like:

• Practicing self-compassion

• Journaling with a focus on gratitude

• Emotional and trauma healing

• Positive and helpful affirmations

• Developing an optimistic mindset

• Reframing negative emotions and experiences

• Getting daily positive thought reminders

• Verbal affirmations from others

• Inviting your negative emotions to express themselves at an appropriate time and place

• Learning how to appropriately name your feelings so you can help identify them

Your emotional self is resilient, but to maintain that strength, you need to nourish it. Start feeding your emotional self with daily or weekly emotional self-care.

Self-care dimension #3: your social self

Both extroverts and introverts need some kind of social contact. For some, it's more important to spend time out and about in crowds; for others, just an hour or two with a close friend is enough.

Now that we're somewhat in the post-COVID era, it's more important than ever to start rebuilding your social network and making new friends. Although you may be an independent woman, you still need people around you to act as cheerleaders and help you on your journey. 

Try doing something different if you're having trouble recharging your social meters. Here are some simple ideas for forms of social self-care that h can help you rebound:

What it can look like: 

• Spend some time with your family, maybe on Skype or in-person

• Get out and about with friends, even if it's just for a coffee. Having someone listen to you externalize can be incredibly helpful.

• Spend time researching ya new role model for this time in your life, someone who you can look up to and who inspires you to be your best self

• Connect with your community more by volunteering, going to a farmer's market, or even joining a community garden

• Find some mental health care, such as a therapist or psychologist, to help you get to the root cause of your problems.

• Join an active and positive Facebook community full of like-minded individuals with a common interest or cause

• Go to a meet-up in your area - there are always pub crawls, special interest groups, or even free days at a museum that can help you feel more connected to the world around you.

• Have a phone date - if you're like many of us, our friends are all over the world. Set up a full date on the phone with a friend, family member, or other loved one so you can cook dinner together and maybe even have a drink or two.

Recharging your social batteries is crucial for your overall well-being. If you're constantly going to social events and feel drained, find someone who can listen to you vent and be that perfect sounding board. 

Sometimes, a few minutes with a friend is all you need.

Self-care dimension #4: your spiritual self

I celebrate the "woo-woo" here at Sex with Elaine - whatever you consider spiritually fulfilling, we celebrate it!

Whatever you believe, your higher being or higher calling is groovy to me.

For many people who are perhaps atheist or agnostic, maybe that doesn't jive with you.

Don't worry.

There's more to your spiritual side than believing in a higher being or almighty god. 

Whatever floats your boat and tickles your pickle, we celebrate, so start giving your spiritual side some extra love with these self-care ideas: 

What it can look like:

• Regular meditation of any kind, we recommend mindfulness meditation

• Self-exploration to find your purpose(s)

• Prayer

• Attending church, synagogue, mosque, coven meetings, or any other spiritual event

• Practicing mindfulness during daily moments, such as when you're eating

• Spending time alone in nature to feel the size of it all

• Stargazing and feeling how big the universe is

• Listening to heart-warming stories of people who have been contacted from the great beyond

• Channeling your strength through crystals 

• Listening or watching for omens all around you

Spirituality is such a large and broad category that almost anything you do can fall underneath it. Spending time with your spiritual or esoteric self can help you understand deeper pangs of hunger in your soul you've never noticed before. 

Self-care dimension #5: your self development

Also known as "lifestyle self-care," we prefer to look at it as investing in yourself. You are your most vital asset, and understand what is essential to you. Perhaps you're just a little lost while stuck at a temporary job or feel like your life has stalled for the time being. Remember that real growth happens when you're not paying attention. So spend time figuring out what would spark the most joy in you by experimenting with self-care today. 

Self-development is all about what feels good to you and what nourishes your soul deep down, so when you try these things, listen to what your soul is saying and tune in.

What it can look like: 

• Relaxing, turning off your phone, and doing nothing

• Setting goals and organizing your future

• Spending time in nature

• Doing work that charges your soul and is fulfilling

• Developing or maintaining a routine

• Going for walks by yourself

• Figuring out life aspirations

• Finding quotes to charge your soul

Whatever sparks joy and fills you with motivation and pleasure is your self-development and self-care.

Cultivating a self-care routine

Routines take trial and error. They take hard work and persistence. How do you get started? First, you need to figure out what versions and types of self-care do the most for you. 

Not everything works for everyone. If it did, life would be pretty dull. 

What we recommend is creating little self-care menus that you can choose from things that fill your soul and recharge you whenever you're stuck. They can be things as simple as taking a long shower and calling it self-care, or it could be planning a vacation to the Swiss Alps. Whatever your self-care is, try scheduling it into your life. Maybe a few minutes a day is your style. Perhaps an hour once a week is your thing.

It all depends on where you are in life and what you want out of this life.

Suppose you're stuck on your self-care routine and can't seem to find a palace to get started. In that case, you're definitely in the majority of the population. That's why there are coaches like me available to help you decide what is essential and create your personalized self-care routine. 

If you're dating, single, or in a relationship, it doesn't matter. Speaking with a certified coach can help you reconnect with yourself and your higher purpose and step more confidently into your next phase of life.

So get it, girl!

“Part of courage is simple consistency.”

— Peggy Noonan

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