What Exactly Is Self-Care?

By Jen Comas
Share

Self-care has become a popular buzzword over the last couple of years. If you look up the #selfcare hashtag on social media you’ll find almost 10 million posts, showing pictures ranging from pedicures, massages and vacations, to pizza and bottles of wine.

For someone who is trying to get clear on what self-care looks like for them, these posts can make it confusing.

What exactly is self-care? Dr. Kara Mohr, PhD and behavior change expert, defines self-care as follows:

Self-care is taking care of and honoring your body, mind, and spirit in a way that activates your best self.

Self-care choices are those that improve your physical, mental, or emotional health, and move you towards your desired outcome.

Self-care choices move you forward.

What “moving forward” means is something only you can determine based on your personal preferences, desired outcomes, and what you need on each particular day. For example, getting a massage may be a form of self-care that moves someone forward on a given day, whereas doing a challenging training session may be the self-care that moves them forward on a different day.

Contrary to what is often shown on social media, self-care is almost always less glamorous than bubble baths, massages, and pedicures. Something that is often misleading about many of the self-care posts on social media is that true self-care choices aren’t typically the easiest choices.

Examples of self-care:

  • Choosing nutritious food more often than not.
  • Drinking enough water.
  • Turning down a social invitation because you need alone time.
  • Going for a walk.
  • Opting for an early bedtime in lieu of another night out.
  • Pursuing personal development.
  • Going for annual doctor exams.
  • Seeking help from a mental health professional.
  • Refilling your medication, and so much more.

Acts of self-care are an investment in future you.

When Self-Care Turns Into Something Else

While self-care will look different for everyone based on their personal circumstances, it can be easy to confuse self-care with behaviors that aren’t serving your best self, or that may even move you away from your desired outcome.

The Difference Between Self-Care and Self-Comfort

Self-comfort is a type of behavior that is focused on soothing and coping rather than moving us toward our desired goals and direction.

Choices of self-comfort usually involve things that are “easier” in the moment, such as skipping a workout, having another glass of wine when you decided you would only have one, sacrificing much-needed sleep for more television or social media, etc.

Chosen often enough, self-comfort will keep you right where you are, as opposed to moving forward towards your desired outcome.

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with self-comfort, and everyone chooses it from time to time.

The important thing is that you are clear on the possible consequences in order to make an intentional choice.

When Self-Comfort Turns Into Self-Indulgence

Self-indulgence is self-comfort taken to extreme levels. Self-indulgence takes a self-comfort behavior and doubles-down on it in excessive amounts. Where self-comfort is the easy choice, self-indulgence goes all in.

For example, if the self-comfort choice is staying up to watch an extra episode on television instead of going to bed when you’re tired, the self-indulgent choice would be binge-watching several more episodes and going to bed absolutely exhausted which ruins your next day. If self-comfort is having a second brownie, self-indulgence is eating half the pan.

When done often enough, self-indulgent choices move us backward, away from our desired result.

What About Exercise?

Exercise, which is typically viewed as self-care, can fall into the self-comfort, or even self-indulgence category. For example, if a person is using extreme amounts of exercise as a coping mechanism rather than working to get to the underlying issues, it might be self-comfort. Additionally, if a person is participating in extreme amounts of exercise in order to punish themselves for what they ate, exercise may be viewed as self-indulgence.

Only you know for certain if your exercise is serving your best self, in which case it’s an excellent form of self-care.

Choosing Your Self-Care, Self-Comfort, and Self-Indulgence

The purpose in distinguishing between self-care, comfort, and indulgence is to help you get clear on which behaviors serve your best self, and which behaviors may be keeping you stuck where you are, or moving you backwards. Once you’re clear on these, you can make a choice as to what is truly worth it, and what isn’t.

For example, I know that my self-comfort behavior of staying up scrolling social media rather than going to bed is never worth it for me, but having that extra glass of wine when I’m at dinner with friends is almost always worth it. Both of these choices would fall under the self-comfort category.

This article is not intended to be prescriptive or judgmental. Only you know which behaviors serve your highest self and move you forward. Just remember:

  • Self-care choices move us forwards.
  • Self-comfort choices, when done often enough, will keep us right where we are.
  • Self-indulgent choices, when done often enough, will move us backwards.

The choice, whether is be self-care, comfort, or indulgence, is yours to make. Take the time to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Which behaviors do you participate in that make you feel good and move you towards your desired outcome?
  • Which choices do you consistently make that provide comfort, but aren’t truly worth it? What are some alternatives that would fall under self-care?
  • Which behaviors provide comfort, and are absolutely worth it?
  • Which choices feel a little overboard, and you suspect are moving you away from your goals? What are some alternatives that would better serve you?

Get in the best shape of your life—for good.

With Girls Gone Strong Coaching, you’ll get the support, accountability, and expert coaching to eat and exercise in a sustainable way — without restrictive diets or spending your life in the gym.

Whether your health and fitness goals are to…

  • Get stronger
  • Gain muscle
  • Lose body fat
  • Improve your pull-ups
  • Have a safe and healthy pregnancy
  • Return to exercise safely postpartum
  • Heal your relationship with food
  • Increase your confidence

... or anything else, we’ll help you achieve them. You can experience life-changing results while eating and exercising in a way that actually fits into your life — instead of controlling it.

Throughout our 12-month program, you’ll get a simple, step-by-step plan for developing nutrition, fitness, and mindset habits that will lead the way in reaching your goal.

Your coach is available 5 days a week to answer questions and help you navigate situations — like eating while you’re on vacation, exercise substitutions so you don’t aggravate your knee pain, or planning a workout with limited equipment options — so you always have support when you need it. And together, you'll find the best path toward long-term results in a way that works for you.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Improve your nutrition without giving up the foods you love
  • Exercise safely and effectively so you’re getting maximum results from your workouts without burning yourself out
  • Increase your confidence, love the way your body looks, feels, and performs — and enjoy your life more than you ever thought possible

And you’ll become the happiest, fittest, strongest version of yourself, one step at a time.

Interested in learning more? Join our free, no-obligation pre-sale list.

Twice a year we accept a small number of new coaching clients. Join the free, no-obligation pre-sale list below for the chance to enroll early and save up to 45% off the general public price.

Don't miss out!

Enrollment opens December 31, 2023.

Get on the GGS Coaching for Women pre-sale list today.

We'll send you more info about the program and give you the chance to enroll early and save up to 45% off the general public price.

The program opens only twice a year. Spots are limited.

GGS Coaching Pre-Sale (No Phone)

About the author:  Jen Comas

Jen Comas is a Girls Gone Strong co-founder and GGS Coaching Head Coach, as well as a NASM Personal Trainer and USAW Level One Weightlifting coach. She has competed in figure and trained as a powerlifter, teaches and practices yoga, and is obsessed with motorcycles, dirt biking, and downhill mountain biking. Learn about Jen on her website and follow her adventures on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

More Resources

envelope-oclosechevron-upchevron-downbookmark-otwitterfacebookchainbars linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram