3. Mental self-care: Cognitive well-being and mental clarity are often combined with emotional self-care, but they are two distinct things. Engaging in hobbies, creative outlets like drawing or singing, reading, journaling, even crossword puzzle and wordle are some great options.

4. Social self-care: An excellent way to practice social self-care is to nurture healthy relationships whether they are family, friends, or professional. Healthy interactions with your family and close friends can look like playing board games, taking a walk, enjoying a walk, going out to lunch or a coffee shop.

5. Spiritual self-care: This type of care is all about growing and nurturing your spiritual life. Many people find faith gives them a sense of purpose or meaning. Activities that promote spiritual self-care may be attending church or spiritual practices, praying, and engaging in activities that align with your beliefs.

6. Environmental self-care: We live in a busy and chaotic world. Creating a physical space that is calming is vital to overall well-being. It doesn’t have to be expensive, either.

Try to figure out what calms you and centers you. It could be taking a walk in the park, going to the beach, driving in your car with your favorite music playing, or if you’re a homebody like me, watching the birds feast on the food in the birdfeeder outside your window.

One thing is for sure. Self-care should not feel like a competition or overwhelming. It’s all about figuring out what helps you exist in a space where you feel less anxious, hurried, or overwhelmed: where you can just take a breath and exist.

Self-care doesn’t even need to cost you a dime. Some great and easy examples of self-care are: write yourself a positive message (what are you proud of?), write down 3 things you’re grateful for, listen to music or a podcast, clean out a junk drawer, or take a 20 minute (or more) break from all social media.

Other examples: notice 5 things you can see or 5 things that you think are beautiful, set one small goal for yourself, or stretch for 5 minutes and focus on your breathing. I’ve included an instructional video on the 4-7-8 method of breathing – check it out HERE.

Finally, sometimes self-care means fully exploring difficult decisions and what they could mean for your life. If you find yourself struggling with an unexpected pregnancy, you’re not alone. So many women from all stages in life find themselves pregnant and don’t quite know how to feel.

One great place where you can just relax and talk about what you’re going through is Alcove Health Women’s Clinic. Our services are free of cost and judgment.

We provide pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STI testing, options consultations, and support. We also have hundreds of resources for you from mental health care to getting connected to programs designed to assist you wherever you may be in your life journey.

The women at Alcove Health all want to truly empower women and provide them with the help and hope they deserve.  Call or click here to request or schedule your free and confidential appointment today.