A PRESCRIPTION FOR SELF-CARE --cont'd

SOCIAL SELF CARE

I feel that Social Self Care is a topic that is often overlooked when working with the subject of Self-Care for ourselves. I feel it is an important component of our self-care journey because it foster's belongingness and connectedness.

Belongingness is an innate human need to be an accepted member of a group (for example: family, friends, and coworkers, and /or organized group activities such as teams, sports, classes, or trivia nights) or to be a part of something bigger than yourself (for example: volunteering, charitable contributions or activities, and humanitarian efforts). Social connectedness is our experience of how close we are to other people).

Social Self Care will help you to:

Improve the quality of your relationships.

Revive your social life.

Spend free time engaged with people and in activities that energize and recharge you.

Find more time for recreation and play.

Engage in hobbies that are fun, fulfilling, and improve your overall health.

An important place to start improving your social self-care is to create a vision for yourself. This is a one-sentence statement of what you want your social life to be like. Once you're clear on that, you can begin taking positive steps in that direction. Your social self-care vision should make you feel excited about leveling up your social life. In creating your vision, also consider why you want your social life to change in those ways. Ask yourself "why". Get out your notebook and as you're answering the questions, challenge yourself to go beyond simply thinking about this as an intellectual exercise. Give yourself permission to get creative. Engage all your senses. Create a vivid, detailed mental image of what your future social self-care looks like: Who and what do you see? What do you taste? What smells are present? What emotions do you feel?

Making Social Self-Care a Reality

What kind of a friend would you like to be?

What kind of romantic partner would you like to be?

What kind of employer or employee would you like to be?

What kind of a family member (e.g., parent, grandparent, child, sibling, cousin, aunt or uncle, etc) would you like to be?

When was the last time you felt engaged, excited, safe, and supported in your social life?

Describe your ideal social life.

If you had "free time" where were you feeling rested and energized, what types of activities would you like to engage in with others?

What type of group - related hobbies do you have?

In your notebook, try your hand at crafting your own social self-care vision. It doesn't have to be long, just a sentence or two. Here's an example: "I am shaping relationships in which deep connection is plentiful, love and respect is mutual, and contact is pleasant and consistent."

Then, complete this sentence: "Social Self-Care is important to me because------".

Look for my next blog in which we will begin to create a Social Self Care plan.

See you over there!

Tara Genusa

Stress Coach/COR.E Wellbeing Dynamics Specialist

Stressreliefsolutions.net

Tara@stressreliefsolutions.net

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Tara Genusa - Certified Life Coach