It’s normal to hear a lot about self-care and how important it is in an age where anxiety and depression seem to be on the rise all around the world. However, when you do have time to yourself, finally free from the constraints of your responsibilities, it’s natural that you might want to spend this time indulging yourself rather than focusing on how to improve your mental health; there’s only so much free time to be had, after all.
So, how do you strike this delicate balance? Well, that might mean learning more about what separates indulgence and self-care, and where those two roads intersect. Read on for a guide on balancing these two important aspects of life.
Sometimes You Can Do Both
Seeing friends is a prime example of an activity that can tick both of these boxes. You likely don’t need much encouragement to see your friends, and you might not even notice how positive such an experience can be for your mental health. Obviously, the nature of the activity here is going to have some sort of impact on how healthy this time actually is – but being amidst your support network, laughing and socializing are all factors that can be naturally and ambiently beneficial. You can also target some healthier group activities, if you wanted to, such as sports or exercise to further enhance the self-care aspect of spending time with friends.
Going on holiday is another example of when it might be easy to indulge yourself and look after yourself at the same time. Taking some time away from the environments and responsibilities that cause you stress, and taking yourself somewhere serene and quiet can work wonders. There are instances such as travel that might itself temporarily increase your stress, but learning how to deal with these situations as they arise can help the ambition of your holiday to remain clear – allowing you to enjoy whatever your ideal destination has to offer.
The Importance of Enjoying Yourself
The balance doesn’t have to be constant, though, and letting one take priority over the other from time to time is both important and natural. It’s the concept of knowing how to balance them in the long term that’s important. If you’re someone who enjoys the games that are present through online casinos, for example, you might find that you don’t want to let yourself play them all week, as this could remove the novelty, and being engaging with them too much is not to be considered healthy. However, finding yourself at home on a Friday evening after a long week of work might give you a prime excuse to kick off the boots and visit any of the games you find at a Casinoza casino.
Depriving yourself of what you enjoy out of a sense that it might not be consistently boosting your mental health might actually make you more miserable – and decrease the sense of joy that you get out of life. Balance and moderation are key, and a lot of that comes with self-control and knowing how to support your mental health when necessary.
Understanding What Helps
What does support your mental health, though? Well, while you might first think of practices such as meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises (all of which can be beneficial) that’s not what you’re restricted to. It might be that you want to take a more active approach, in which case going for walks and spending time in nature can both be positive ways of putting your self-care first. Exercising and keeping yourself in good physical health is a habit that can also be massively positive for your mental health, and embracing that can lead you to living a healthier lifestyle overall.
If you did want to get into meditation, however, you might find that it provides you with a good opportunity to deal with any anxiety you may experience on a daily basis.
The Confusion Between Indulgence and Self-Care
The confusion is natural, however. It might feel as though it’s easy to distinguish the difference between indulgence and self-care now, but there are going to be times when you come out of a certain period of time feeling worse off mentally, when you had the intention of making it a time of self-care. This commonly happens with group holidays. These are times that can be massively relaxing due to both taking time away from your normal life, and spending time with your friends – but a lot of time spent engaging in indulgent activities might take a toll on your health, and you might walk away feeling less rested than you were beforehand.
As always, it’s about balance, and it’s also about understanding the role that your physical health can sometimes play in your mental health.
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