The Importance of Self-Care

Self-care is an essential activity that everyone should be aware of and participate in. Self-care not only helps relieve stress but also helps maintain a healthy and positive outlook on life, improves mental health and creates self-compassion.

What is self-care? Self-care is the idea of taking some time to partake in an activity that encourages the care of your physical, mental and emotional health.

Self-care is essential to a healthy life, especially for college students. Having a few moments to catch your breath and not think about the stress of school is key.

Especially with finals coming up, many students often engage in the unhealthy habit of studying to the point where don’t eat or sleep and partake in other unhealthy activities to continue studying for long periods of time.

Self-care allows you a moment of peace and time to regenerate. Without self-care, many people experience feelings of exhaustion, burnout and the inability to do their best work. It allows us a moment to breathe and refocus on the tasks at hand. 

Once individuals realize self-care isn’t selfish and begin to practice it, the ability to give their all to others and to their work increases. If you are not at your best, you are not able to give your best to your work or others.

Self-care is known to increase one’s self-esteem and maintain a healthy relationship with yourself. Although it may sound silly to many, a healthy relationship with yourself allows you to do your best work and have a happier life.

Lack of self-care and compassion can lead to depression, insomnia, anxiety and heart disease because of the intense stress our bodies are going through.

“Self-care is essential to everyone because everyone is worthy of love,” our very own campus advocate Marina Rodriguez explains.

“Caring for ourselves is the only thing we can control. We can’t control if others will treat us with love or respect or if others will care for us. If we want to survive, and especially if we want to thrive, we have to nurture ourselves. Self-Care isn’t selfish. It’s actually a protective factor for our physical and mental health,” Rodriguez said.

Self-care can be as simple as making sure you are eating regularly and drinking water to stay hydrated. It does not have to be as extravagant as many people believe it is. It can be whatever you need or want it to be.

There are a few different forms of self-care as well. The few different types are spiritual, emotional, physical, sensory and social. There is a form of self-care out there for everyone. Some healthy examples could be taking a walk, meditating, having a reminder to drink water or giving yourself little rewards after long periods of studying. 

Self-care increases the quality of life and maintains the individual’s ability to give their best work and help others. Self-care is in no way a selfish act but rather a giving act that allows the individual to stay healthy and contributes to bettering yourself.