The Importance of Emotional Self-Care

Emotional self-care is the act of nurturing and tending to your inner feelings and emotions. In today’s stressful world, caring for your whole self, including your emotional life, is more important than ever! Nurturing your emotions and processing any frequent negative emotions can help you decrease stress, calm your nervous system, cope with tough situations, and boost your mood.

 

Before you can really tend to your emotions, you need to be aware of them! A great way to do this is by tuning in to your body. Notice the physical sensations that emotions bring up. Does this emotion have a temperature? A texture? A shape? Is it closed or open? Does it feel energizing or draining?

 

Mindfulness is simply the act of noticing the present moment, without judgment. Try sitting with your emotions and simply breathing. Your emotions aren’t good or bad, right or wrong, they just are. Part of emotional self care is simply allowing your emotions to exist.

 

While we cannot choose what happens to us, we do get to choose how we respond to those circumstances. Whether you’re dealing with cancer, a pandemic, or a screaming toddler, you have the choice to take a deep breath, respond with kindness to yourself and others, and find ways to maintain hope and peace.

 

Strong, supportive relationships help us stay resilient and emotionally healthy. During isolating times like these, it’s more important than ever to reach out and to stay connected.

 

Shifting our focus from what is going wrong to what is going well is a great way to practice emotional self care. Expressing gratitude as part of a daily routine can improve your mood and decrease stress.

 

Your emotional self care deserves just as much attention as your physical health. Try to add at least one emotional self-care activity to your routine every day and notice the difference. You deserve to take great care of yourself.

 

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