Self-care is often advertised in the form of spa days with your BFFs, expensive trips to the beach, or hour-long skincare routines using luxury products.

Even though we’re all for doing all of those things, it’s important to know that self-care goes way beyond that. In fact, self-care is actually all about small actions we do every day that ultimately have a positive impact on our overall well-being.

In total, there are 6 different forms of self-care, all of which are extremely important to practice in order to have the best positive impact on your life and health. Here are what the 6 types of self-care are as well as a few ideas on how to easily implement them into your life!

​​6 Types of Self-Care (And How To Practice Them All Without Going Crazy)

1.     Emotional Self-Care

Everything we do in life has a lot to do with our emotions and feelings. Make sure your emotional health is in check is by prioritizing emotional self-care. Seriously, every other form of self-care you practice will simply not have the same impact if you’re not feeling good on the inside.

A few self-care activities you can do to look after your emotional health include seeing a therapist, playing music, journaling, writing about your feelings as well as what triggered them, or talking about the issues you’re having over with your closest friends.

Moreover, another way to practice emotional self-care is by simply allowing yourself to feel whatever it is you’re feeling – if you’re feeling sad, it’s totally okay to cry and even allow yourself to spend an entire day in bed (just as long as you promise yourself to get up the next day). Sometimes, we are fed the idea that we need to be strong and distract ourselves from negative emotions, but sometimes getting to feel them is the best way to process them.

2.    Practical Self-Care

Practical self-care is all about doing things in your life in order to prevent future stress. This can include activities like writing down a to-do list for the week, taking a class that will up your career, decluttering your house on a regular basis, meal prepping for the week, or making sure important documents are organized.

This may just be the “lesser fun” side of self-care, but taking time to get organized will ultimately save you a ton of time in the long run, which means more time for other forms of self-care that are way more enjoyable!

3.    Physical Self-Care

Physical self-care is all about keeping your body healthy. Things like exercising, drinking enough water, eating well (although cheating and eating that cake you love is okay, too!), seeing your doctor for regular check-ups, and getting enough sleep all fall into this same category.

4.    Mental Self-Care

Stimulating our minds and intellect is incredibly important. It’s something that today, more than ever, has gotten lost due to the number of entertainment options available at the tip of our fingertips (cough cough, social media!)

While we’re not saying you need to quit watching those TikTok videos you love altogether, you may want to make an effort to replace an hour on social media with something that nurtures your mind instead, this can be activities like reading a book, playing sudoku, solving a puzzle, joining a class to learn something new just for the sake of it, etc.

5.    Social Self-Care

This is probably the most fun form of self-care out there, but it’s something that can sometimes take the back burner, especially when we find ourselves too busy. Spending time with friends and loved ones as well as doing activities you love is essential in order to keep a balanced lifestyle, so the next time you feel like saying no to that outing because you’re feeling overwhelmed by work, try saying yes unapologetically instead!

Seriously, getting time off and spending time around people you love can have a wonderful effect on the way you feel, which in turn, can actually help you get more productive at work. Moreover, having fun activities to look forward to will also make responsibilities feel less overwhelming.

6.   Spiritual Self Care

Spiritual self-care can look different depending on your beliefs, but ultimately, the way you nurture your spirit and think bigger than yourself matters. Nope, spiritual self-care doesn’t necessarily have to be religious, but it can very well be depending on the person.

If you’re religious, take time to get closer to your faith. If you aren’t, you may want to go for activities like yoga, meditation, spending time in nature, etc.

Do you practice all 6 types of self-care? If so, what are the ways you implement each and every one of them into your life? Feel free to tell us all about them in the comment section below as it can serve as inspiration for other readers!