With life moving so fast, sometimes we forget to love and take care of ourselves and put others’ happiness in front of our own. While taking care of the people around us is always good, we have to make sure that we are also taking care of ourselves. One of the easiest ways to make sure you are taking good care of yourself is to make yourself a checklist with the five love languages. These languages include physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts and acts of service. If you incorporate these five things into your self-care regimen, you will feel a lot better about yourself and find yourself happier than ever.
If you are not sure how to incorporate these five love languages into your self-care regimen, I am here to help you out with that today. While these are commonly used on other people to show love and affection, there are also ways we can use them to show ourselves some appreciation.
Physical touch
You are probably wondering how physical touch can be incorporated into your self-care regimen and that’s easy. For example, massage and spa days are big ones in this category. When you are stressed out and have had a long day, who does not want to go out and have a massage or attend a full-out spa? Now, if a spa day or a massage is not in your budget, there are other ways to incorporate physical touch into your self-care routine without breaking the bank. These include getting a waterfall showerhead, comfy and clean bedding, taking a hot bath, skincare and stretching.
Acts of service
Now that we have got past the physical touch aspect of self-care, we can go ahead and move onto how we can incorporate acts of service into our self-care routine. Acts of service for our self-care include cleaning (who doesn’t love a clean house?), donating items that you do not use anymore, getting a planner and writing things down (it will save you from a lot of stress), starting to cook more often and drinking more water. These are things that we overlook daily and don’t realize how much actually help us feel better about ourselves. I have realized that when I finish cleaning my room, I am more motivated to do things because everything feels so much more organized and homey.
Gifts
For my favorite love language, we have gifts. I have caught myself buying things for friends and family with no problem, but as soon as I want to purchase something for myself, I feel stuck and overthink on whether I want to buy it for myself or not. However, when you are working hard and you want something, sometimes it’s okay to go out and buy it for yourself. It will motivate you to go out there and work harder because you are seeing the rewards of it. Some examples of gifts that you can get for yourself are trips, items that you are interested in and new clothes or shoes. Feel free to indulge in a coffee or a sweet treat every once in a while. This area of self-care is so broad. Everyone has different interests so whatever you want, go out and get it and you will find yourself more motivated to work hard so you can continue treating yourself.
Quality time
Ideas of quality time that you could add to your routine would be taking yourself out, writing your feelings (it is always good to have a journal and reflect on your emotions, it helps a lot) or meditating. Meditation is overlooked very often, but taking a breath and just relaxing can be good for your mental health.
Words of affirmation
And last, but not least, for words of affirmation, make sure that you are talking about yourself in a positive way. Never look down on yourself. Always believe in yourself and follow these five languages. You will find yourself to be a lot happier and a lot healthier too.
Photo: B. Larue
