Difference between Self-Comfort and Self-Care Ideas
I’ve found it essential to distinguish between self-comfort and self-care. You can eat your favorite snacks or stay at home with a pizza instead of going out to the gym; you can also clean the space around your house, cook yourself a nourishing and healthy meal and have a balanced diet, or simply find yourself in a good place.
Self-care is the practice that truly provides rejuvenation, energy restoration and emotional energy reserves. Self-comfort, and self-compassion, on the other hand, is different in that it can make you feel good and lower your stress hormone cortisol level in the short term, but will not make you less depressed or raise my self-esteem after you’ve done it.
Self-comfort sometimes doesn’t really care for your body and your health. It’s easy to get dopamine from having junk comfort food, weeds, drinks, but you will continue to feel depleted, and often feel just as bad or even worse soon after, if you are not caring for yourself.
Self-Care Ideas in Quadrant
There are many forms of free and fun self-care ideas and practices. It spans from physical to mental, mind to spirit. Many of those ideas are beneficial mentally, physically and emotionally at the same time. They have a holistic health approach combining multidimensional aspects of wellness and well-being.
We group those easy self-care ideas in a quadrant in the form of a vision board from different dimensions and perspectives, so you know clearly what self-care ideas you need in life and have a direct link to what those ideas or practices might be helpful to.
Self-Care Ideas for Physical Beauty
When we experience a tiring day or was in the wrong place mentally, we often pay less attention to our physical appearance, resulting in a miserable decline in self-care.
Our confidence will be boosted immensely if we give ourself the care we deserve and maintain the self-care routine on daily basis. It need not to be complicated, you can implement those self-care ideas at home easily. Here are a few self-care routine ideas on my list:
- Taking care of your hair and trying different hairstyles. Always want to try a new hairstyle when we get bored of the old hair style, a new hairstyle would make you fresh and confident.
- Painting your nails soft colors. It’s fun, relaxing, and your nails will also look great!
- Experimenting with new outfits and style that you wouldn’t usually try
- Wash your face, and it’s soothing when putting moisturizer on. It not only comforts your tiring face, but also makes you feel clean and refreshed.
- Putting on some makeup. I found lipglosses and working on eyebrows boost confidence a lot, if you don’t have the strength to do a full face. Decent eyebrows make a huge difference.
- Wearing minimalist jewellery that compliment your skin tone and clothes style.
- Body and oral hygiene. Those are probably the most important self-care ideas for physical and mental health.
Self-Care Ideas for Physical Health
While we care for our outlooks, improving physical health is more intrinsic and requires long-term self-care activities. Those self-care ideas/practices are really restorative in physical self-care energy and hence refreshing our mind and spirit in the present moment. Here are my essential self-care ideas list for physical health:
- Long hot shower with some nice smelling products, and then wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and fresh pyjamas. You will feel warm and clean with rejuvenation. A long shower is the “wash the day away” routine and is usually a positive start for your following day.
- Have a bubble or hot bath: Having a hot or bubble bath can be a luxurious, relaxing escape that melts away the day’s stresses, leaving you refreshed and rejuvenated.
- Movement and adequate sleep. Get yourself early to bed despite wanting to stay up, as you will need enough sleep.
- A hot and steamy cup of herbal tea. What I like to do on busy days is allow myself a 15-minute herbal tea break. What I do is I brew some of my favorite chai tea, and I just sit with it on the couch. Enjoying the aromas and the flavors from a cup of tea and just drinking it very leisurely. Without being distracted or doing something else or being on my phone.
- Use a heated pad or a nice massage for a painful back, neck, or foot. We all enjoy a nice massage now and then. And just like hugging, we don’t have to rely on others to do it for us. Giving yourself a good foot massage or just rub down your neck and shoulders can also be really enjoyable. I do this self-care routine regularly. And it’s great for relaxing the muscles in your upper body that tend to get very stiff when you’re stressed. And also, it’s just a great form of self-love because you are spending time to care for yourself in a very attentive way. It also improves blood circulation and eases tension. So why not take five minutes and do that for yourself?
- Prepping new healthy and fun recipes or recreating my favorite meal (like Sweetgreen bowls, Cava bowls, indian curry, whatever you find tasty)! It’s like my therapy. Cooking for yourself a yummy, delicious and healthy meal. It shows you are willing to invest in your health and eating delicious food will make you feel happy.
- Drink water. Drinking 8 cups of water every day will boost metabolism and being hydrated is also good for your daily skincare routine. A water bottle can change your life for good, so take enough water and stay hydrated!
- Morning coffee: Starting the day with a coffee often sets a cozy tone and provides a comforting boost to kick-start the day’s activities while taking time for yourself.
Self-Care Ideas for Mental Health
Find one thing that makes you truly happy. Maintaining mental health is essential in reacting to lousy day and wrong places. We all should say ‘no’ to other people if we don’t want to do something. There is no easy way to say this but stop looking for validation from external factors or stop trying to appease so many people are self-caring for living to the truth of ourselves.
Here are my simple self care ideas list for boosting mental health, and they are really effective in leveling up your emotional frequency on the Emotional Guidance Scale:
- Practice a hobby or a new skill. Just make sure the hobby is what you actually enjoy throughout the day. It can also be a hobby or skill you have been wanting to try or learn but haven’t had time to.
- Reading books or listening to music is very stress relieving. We all know many health benefits of reading books and listening to music or podcasts; it is a healthy habit. So be sure to check it out if you’re interested. Books and music improve cognitive functions, memory, and empathy, and it’s also just a very relaxing activity to do. Make sure to set some time aside to go to a local library and read a book.
- Diffusing essential oils in the bedroom and living room, or buying fresh flowers or herb plants for decoration in your kitchen, will lighten up your mood right away.
- Organising and sorting your stuff, it’s time to get rid of things you don’t use.
- Crafting (sewing, painting, coloring). Creativity can help focus the mind, feel calm, and reduce stress. If you’re feeling stressed or when you’re just mentally not feeling your best…, then doing something new and creative can be a perfect outlet. Try to connect with your inner kid and create something for yourself.
- Positive self-talk: This involves affirming and supportive inner dialogue that cultivates self-love and constructive thinking patterns.
Self-Care Ideas for Spirit and Soul
“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” It is necessary to take care of yourself spiritually, and to make your happiness a priority. Here are my list of self care ideas that cares for your soul and spirit:
- Morning routine yoga. Doing yoga as a daily routine helps increase flexibility, muscle strength, and tone and improves respiration, energy levels, and vitality. It enables the mind to focus and self-reflection. You can do it alone or find a yoga teacher to help you.
- Breathing exercises: There are various breathing techniques to enhance breath control, reduce stress, and promote relaxation through intentional breathing patterns and deep breaths.
- Self-care Journaling. write about your thoughts, feelings, negative emotions, and reflections in a healthy way that will make yourself feel better. Journaling is a good practice for gratitude, wellness, stress management, and emotional health recovery.
- Meditation or guided meditations for daily gratitude and affirmation. Meditation is one of the best sources of happiness. You can spend time thinking about all the things you are grateful for and happy with in your life or practice the powerful mantra to get what you want. It always helps me to put things into perspective again and see the bigger picture.
- Go outside and be in nature. When I feel stressed or disconnected, I often realize that I haven’t been out in nature in a while. Our brains are hard-wired to enjoy being around greenery and water. So go outside, get some fresh air, and go to a park, forest, or beach. Try to find something where there’s greenery or water.
- Turning off your phone and reducing screen time. Because our screens and social media tend to distract our mind from what’s really going on. Turn off your social media notifications and your mobile phone, and embrace the power of digital detox. It’s nice to take some time to yourself and reflect on what is truly needed.
