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7 Different Types of Self-Care: Why Self-Care Is More Than Just Diet and Exercise (Includes Self-Care Examples)

What is self-care to you? Yoga classes, face masks, waking up with a sunrise? Then, you may have fallen into toxic propaganda. It’s not your fault because it’s just everywhere nowadays.

Don’t get me wrong, spa days and “clean” eating can be absolutely enjoyable. But because of the curtain of glamorous self-care, we forget that self-care can also be crying in therapy, cleaning out a nasty drawer in your kitchen cabinet, or simply staring at the ceiling.

This piece will tell you about less common but no less important types of self-care. I’ll also give you self-care examples if you don’t know where to start with certain types. And finally, you’ll find my personal principles of practicing self-care that don’t get me burned out.

What Is Self-Care? Answering With Self-Care Examples

Self-care is the intentional practice of supporting your well-being. The main rules for an activity to be considered self-care are:

• It has to feel nice.
• It should replenish the sources (physical, mental, creative).
• It shouldn’t harm an individual’s health in the short- or long-term.

The important thing to understand is that self-care is multidimensional. Different parts of your life require different forms of support. That’s why there are 7 types of self-care:

1. Digital
2. Physical
3. Emotional
4. Cognitive
5. Practical
6. Spiritual
7. Social

A sense of fulfillment in life comes from balancing these different types of self-care rather than focusing on what society is selling.

Digital Self-Care

Digital self-care means intentionally managing your relationship with technology instead of letting it constantly manage you. It’s a relatively new type of self-care that I find to be one of the most influential so far.

Unfortunately, technology in our lives has become more counterproductive:

• Social media steals our attention even from basic stuff like sleep.
• People compare themselves to others and don’t feel satisfied in life.
• Instead of using socialization opportunities, many people feel extremely lonely due to a lack of in-person interactions.

As much as we want to (or not), we cannot completely abandon technology because society has grown really dependent on it. But we can practice digital self-care through:

• turning off unnecessary notifications
• replacing digital stressors with https://breeze-wellbeing.com/, a self-discovery tool that improves self-awareness and mental health
• limiting social media usage when waking up
• unfollowing accounts that trigger stress or comparison
• avoiding work emails late at night
• replacing stimulating media with less stimulating (e.g., scrolling with listening to music)

What Is Physical Self-Care?

Physical self-care means taking care of your body’s basic needs so it can function properly and support your mental well-being. Quite self-explanatory.

The problem with physical self-care is that some people practice it just as a way to boost their appearance. And those who don’t practice it might do so because they don’t have time and/or energy.

Examples of physical self-care:

• hitting 10k steps
• taking medication consistently
• finally scheduling a dentist appointment
• eating instead of starving
• stretching in a work chair
• following a diet that follows your needs (celiac disease, lactose intolerance, allergies, etc.)

Important: physical self-care shouldn’t feel like you’re punishing yourself into “healthy behavior.” Your body is not a productivity machine, and it’s normal to have days when you order takeout or lie through the whole day.

Emotional Self-Care

Emotional self-care means accepting and processing in a healthy way instead of an unhealthy coping strategy.

Not many people were healthy coping mechanisms and instead practice:

• doomscrolling
• procrastination
• over- or undersleeping
• substance use
• social withdrawal
• staying constantly busy
• people-pleasing

Instead, consider these ideas for your next self-care day:

• crying when you need to
• setting boundaries
• talking honestly about your feelings
• spending time alone to recharge
• talking to a therapist
• practicing unconditional acceptance of your emotions

Practicing emotional self-care might not feel pleasant at first. Sometimes it means confronting uncomfortable feelings you’ve avoided for years. You may feel anger, guilt, fear. All of them are normal. Just remember that you are not your emotions.

Cognitive Self-Care Examples

Cognitive self-care involves practicing a growth mindset. It can be any activity that makes you feel fulfilled and confident in your abilities.

Cognitive self-care examples include:

• reading something enjoyable
• learning a new skill at a comfortable pace
• allowing yourself to get bored
• solving jigsaw puzzles
• tutoring others

Contrary to popular belief, constantly being “busy” does not equal cognitive self-care. Yes, it’s important to stimulate the brain and invite new neural connections.

But sometimes, cognitive self-care is just limiting constant sensory input. That’s why digital and cognitive self-care always go in pairs.

Practical Self-Care

Practical self-care means reducing stress by making everyday life more manageable. This type of self-care is not glamorous at all and, often, hard to get down to. But it’s also the one that makes the biggest difference because it reduces the constant background pressure.

Examples of practical self-care include:

• cleaning your room or workspace
• organizing your calendar
• meal prepping
• budgeting your finances
• paying overdue bills
• automating repetitive tasks
• asking for help when overwhelmed

Practical self-care is essentially about planning and organizing. In turn, planning and organizing reduce the possibilities that something will go wrong. And this, in turn, reduces stress.

Spiritual Self-Care

Spiritual self-care is about feeling connected to meaning, values, purpose, or something larger than yourself. Of course, it can be religious, but shouldn’t.

Spirituality is more about your values in life, your dreams, and potential. You can practice it at home without trying to reach transcendence. Try these ideas for spiritual self-care:

• meditation
• journaling about personal values
• spending time in nature
• volunteering
• being creative and reaching a flow state
• art exploration

Many people underestimate how important meaning is for mental well-being. Life can feel repetitive. That’s why it’s important to keep your values in mind. Think about how your life reflects these values and what you can do to respond to them more.

Social Self-Care

Social self-care involves maintaining supportive connections while also protecting yourself from relationships that drain your energy.

Healthy social self-care can include:

• spending quality time with loved ones
• asking for help
• attending different events
• maintaining healthy boundaries
• cutting ties with those who make you feel bad

Social self-care can look completely different. The reason is that some people have different socialization needs. For some people, especially introverts or neurodivergent individuals, social self-care may also involve:

• reducing overstimulating interactions
• limiting time with emotionally exhausting people
• allowing yourself alone time without feeling guilty

How to Practice Self-Care: 3 Main Principles

Principle #1: Don’t Try to Change Everything at Once

What you’ve read above is quite a lot. You may feel overwhelmed about how to squeeze all these types of self-care if you work 8 hours, sleep for another 8 hours, commute, and do chores for 4 more hours.

The good news is that you don’t have to implement everything all at once! The first principle of self-care is starting small and staying realistic. How do you do that? The second principle answers.

Principle #2: Create a Personalized Self-Care Plan

Let’s get some things straight about what a self-care plan ISN’T:

• It’s not a detailed sheet planned by the hour.
• It’s not stealing someone else’s routine from social media.
• It’s not a follow-or-die type of plan.

A self-care plan should be your go-to resource when you feel drained, stressed, or neglected.

Choose at least one small activity from each self-care category. For instance:

• emotional → journaling
• physical → stretching before bed
• practical → planning meals for the week
• social → texting a friend once a week

You can either schedule these activities if you want to have them as a habit or use them as a reaction when you’re running out of mental capacity.

Principle #3: Follow Your Energy and Intuition

The final principle is learning to trust your own reactions instead of forcing yourself into trends that don’t fit you. Self-care should ultimately support your functioning and emotional state, not become another source of pressure.

If a certain activity consistently makes you feel more drained than restored, it may simply not work for you. For example:

• Gym workouts might make you feel self-conscious → try dancing alone at home or gardening.
• Can’t grasp meditation? → Maybe your spiritual self-care will work better.

Real self-care is adaptive. It changes depending on your stress levels, energy, health, and life circumstances. The goal is not to become a “perfectly healthy person.” The goal is to build a life that supports you and where you feel good in your own skin.

Photo Credit

Photo by: kaboompics.com

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