Self-care in the Different Environments of Your Lives

Self-care is becoming more and more important in Asian society as we start to examine the close knit ties of our families. While self-sacrifice and concern for others are important values to have, sometimes they come at the expense of our own mental health. Setting boundaries and time for taking care of yourself is beneficial to not only yourself, but the people around you. This is especially so in the work and familial environment.

Dealing with a Stressful Work Environment

Work can be especially difficult place to be practicing self-care due to the hierarchical nature of the environment. Sometimes the source of our stressful work environment are our leaders and voicing our complaints can be difficult! Each person's situation will differ from one another where some might have an easier time creating a safe space in their environment.

As such, a reliable method is to create a self-care routine within your work environment. One such method is to ground yourself which can help to calm our nervous system, and to help us connect to the here and now. Here are some grounding techniques you can practice:

• Call a loved one - Sometimes hearing the sound of people we love can help ease our anxieties in the workplace. Taking some time to call someone whose voice soothes you is a short and sweet moment to taking care of yourself.
• Smell your favorite essential oil - These are easy to keep around the work desk without disrupting anyone else in the office. It might take a while to find your favorite scent, but its worth the hassle when you can activate your olfactory senses to relax during stressful situations.
• Chew mint or cinnamon gum - Chewing gives us a controllable constant in the current situation and can help calm our nerves during stressful periods. The sudden spice of mint and cinnamon can also serve as a distraction from the current problem and allow us to take a step back and reassess the situation.

Of course, everyone is different. What works for you could be triggering for another person and vice versa. Discovering what works for you will be a trial and error process!

Dealing with a Stressful Home Environment

Unlike the workplace, we cannot choose the family we are born into. Sometimes our family are sources of stress due to the large amount of time we spend with them. It might also be hard to find space away from them due to living in the same physical space.

However, self-care can still be established in a stressful home environment by following some simple routines:

• Setting physical boundaries - If you have your own room in the house, you can begin by making that your physical boundary. Request that members knock on your door before entering is the first step to feeling safe in your own room! Now your room can be your physical escape to practice grounding and other routines.
• Setting personal boundaries - Personal boundaries include habits or words that you might find triggering to your mental health. Being explicit about these boundaries with your family members would allow both parties to have mutual trust should they respect them. While this might be hard to bring up, it would be beneficial in the long run!

Of course at the end of the day, each person's living context is extremely different and you might need to consider taking guidance from a mental health expert who be a regular aid in your mental health journey! Do consider signing up here if you would like to begin that journey with Infinit Care.