I'm a creative person, and I always have been and always known it. What I haven't always known is that creativity isn't something I can just ignore, and that for me, practicing it is truly a form of self-care. When I don't use my creativity, my days are much harder.
I love that self-care has become so important in recent years; it's an important part of our lives. What I don't like as much is that sometimes I feel self-care is only identified with the hours you spend exercising or wearing a nourishing face mask.
Self-care, in reality, is anything that makes you feel good, that reminds you that despite the chaos outside, and despite the busy lives we all lead, there is room for our truest selves.
Self-care can take many different forms. One day it might be something as simple and necessary as spending a little extra time in the bathroom taking your time cutting your nails; or something more complicated like restoring an antique piece of furniture.
This is precisely what I am doing these days, and I have realized that despite being an intellectual person, working with my hands is, in the end, one of the activities that relaxes me the most.
Of course, you don't need to find a piece of furniture to restore to work with your hands and exercise that creativity. Simply preparing a meal with care is an act of creativity, as are embroidering, painting, coloring, and so on.
I hope you've also found ways to take care of yourself, even if it's not in the way you see on social media and in magazines. There are many ways to take care of yourself, as you know, and I'd love to hear about how you practice self-care.