As humans, we do tend to complicate things more than necessary don’t we? Picking a more difficult route to get from A to B. Over-thinking every situation – even more so if you’ve suffered with anxiety, like me. Adding more and more flavours to our food when simple salt and pepper would have sufficed. We’re even complicating self care these days. So let’s look at how to make self care uncomplicated.
So what is self care? The definition of self care from Wikipedia states: “Self-care has been defined as the process of taking care of oneself with behaviors that promote health and active management of illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and dental care.”
Obviously that definition only scratches the surface because as our knowledge and self awareness has grown, so has our understanding of self care and the different elements that can contribute towards an effective self care practice. We now know:
- Self care looks different for everyone, based on their needs
- There are different areas of self care, some of which may need more focus than others
- Self care can be seasonal and change during seasons of our own lives
- Self care doesn’t have to cost anything
But as I said at the start, us humans have a wonderful knack for over-complicating things that really don’t need to be complicated and I feel like self care has definitely become one of those things.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely been guilty of complicating my own self care over the years, trying harder and harder to search for that “perfect” self care routine and those things that are going to transform me into a completely new woman.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work.
So in this post, let’s look at how to make self care uncomplicated as well as some things that you might be doing which is overcomplicating what should be a simple and pure practice.
Does what you’re doing feel like self care? If not, then you’re making it complicated
In 2020, I invested a LOT of time and energy into manifestation coaches. I bought their courses, listened to their podcasts daily, followed their blog posts and tried to replicate everything they suggested in the hope it would 1) help me manifest shit and 2) improve my daily self care and well-being.
But it didn’t feel like self care. It felt like a chore.
I was trying to stick to these long-winded morning routines which although might work for some, bored me to tears and made me agitated more than anything else. I realized that just because THEY considered it self care, didn’t mean that I would. I had unintentionally made my own self care incredibly complicated.
You don’t always have to make lists, notes, journal or keep track of your self care
Self care should come from intuition. Not from a to-do list.
I think it’s become more common, with the rise of things like bullet journals, to track EVERYTHING. Including self care. Which, has it’s place and can definitely help some people and is beneficial for certain things. I personally have started tracking my habits over the last few months, which has benefitted me trying to get out of a state of depression and low mood.
But self care that targets what your soul needs at any given time, I don’t personally believe can be tracked. Journaling is a great act of self care in and of itself. But will talking about what I’m going to do for self care help me? No. Actually doing it will.
Putting acts of self care on a to-do list is a great way to remind yourself that self care is important. But if you DON’T end up doing them or don’t feel like doing what you’ve written down, it’s going to push back your self care and make you feel worse
You might be doing more than what you need
I established a 10 step morning routine once because manifestation influencers told me to. It took too long. And it didn’t achieve anything other than me trying to rush through it because I was bored and wanted to get on with my day. This was NOT self care.
This was me, copying other people because they said it worked and it’s what you “should” do.
When it comes to how to make self care uncomplicated, there is NOTHING that you *should* do. And lumping everyone together in a box will not help. If you’re finding your self care isn’t working for you, you might simply be doing too much of it.
One of the easiest ways of how to make self care uncomplicated is to stop feeling like you need to “do it all”. Which I know is easier said than done.
Tune in to your inner voice or intuition
Self care comes from within or at least, the knowing of it does. Your inner voice and intuition knows what it needs to do to tend to your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. So stop talking over it and dismissing what it has to say and start tuning it and listening to it’s frequency.
I’ve had plenty of moments where I’ve taken a bath, thinking that that’s what I “needed” because it’s a commonly recommended act of self care. Only to get in the bath, be agitated and distracted and not wanting to be in there at all. That wasn’t what I needed.
But perhaps had I actually tuned in and listened, I would have realized that I actually needed to go for a walk or journal or spend some time alone.
Turn to nature for inspiration on how to make self care uncomplicated
Nature is a beautiful teacher. I’ve started leaning on nature and the seasons for how I’m going to spend certain months of the year. December 2021 was a good example, as I continually reminded myself of the word “comfort”. It’s cold, it’s Winter and in those months we require comfort. So that’s what I gave myself.
Seeing the seasons change so effortlessly can be a wonderful boost of inspiration for you to finally stop complicating your life and your self care practices and start seeing your seasons for what they are.
Nature is so simple and so beautiful. It does what it needs to do, all the time. Every day. It’s the most beautifully uncomplicated thing in the world. You might want to simply spend more time in nature, take up a gardening, learn about the moon phases or something else to let nature help you make your self care uncomplicated.
It’s so easy to get caught up in wanting to do *ALL THE THINGS* to help your self care practices that we forget that sometimes it’s not about adding things into your routine, it’s about taking them away.
It doesn’t matter how generic your self care practice is – whether that’s the age old light and candle and have a bath or go for a walk – if it helps you in that moment and gives you what you need, then that’s all that matters.