With the results of the election, the current political and social climate and the stressors of day to day life, now more than ever it is important to practice self-care. What is self-care you may ask? It is mainly defined as including any intentional actions you take to care for your physical, mental and emotional health. Self-care is truly taking care of yourself as we all reach a point and if we do not practice self-care we will burnout.

"But what can I do for self-care?" you may ask. Self-care can literally be anything that makes you feel better. It can be taking a bath, listening to some music, having a good cry or reading a book. However it can also be anything outside of the box as taking part in some retail therapy, baking cookies or volunteering. Truly, self-care is a thing that you can do to make yourself feel better.

When trying to decide what self-care option may be best for you, think of what thing gives you the most elation. For myself that is often how I feel after listening to music or after volunteering. However, for others it may be playing with puppies or going for a long drive. These are all great ideas! No matter what it is, as long as you achieve the feel-good feelings.

If you cannot think of your own ideas for self-care, Google it! I have found numerous resources on both Google and Pinterest about self-care ideas and how to build your own self-care plan. I for myself have created a box in which holds over 200 ideas of what I could do for a self-care task if I need one to pick me up after a hard day.

Now more than ever it is important to be practicing self-care. Self-care will allow you to escape from a situation and de-stress but it also allows you to reset and regroup to take on the world again. It is important to implement these practices early and often but make sure you do not feel bad about taking time or practicing self-care because it is your right as a human being to be full as a person and being in control of your own mental, physical and emotional health no matter who says, and self-care is an important step to help achieve that.