Throughout the pandemic, the minds of those who face uncertainty are under a lot of pressure. Your brain has been dealing with a flight or fight mode for two years now, and there are clear signs of burnout even though people try to stay optimistic for a brighter future. Even though the intention to encourage everyone to stay at home may be in the best interest of their health and to avoid overwhelming hospitals around the globe, it could have had a significant impact on the self-care habits of every individual affected.
The idea of self-care is reflective of the self-concept because of the innate purpose of the former that was a result of the latter. People will only take care of themselves if they believe that they are worthy of the time, attention, and money it takes to overcome any kind of doubt about themselves. Therefore, when an individual makes an effort to clean up or make self-care their top priority by seeking enhancements like cosmetic dental procedures, it translates from their perception of themselves. It is an indicator of their belief that they are worthy of self-care rather than feeling despondent to what is going on around them. Here are some explanations regarding this phenomenon:
Confidence Booster
When you take care of yourself, you start to exhibit a kind of self-love that makes you more confident wherever you go. The level of concentration you have on improving your appearance, for instance, can also be a kind of self-care because you want to keep yourself up to a personal standard. Since you want the best for yourself, you start to believe that you deserve a better version of yourself, and that creates an air of confidence that will not settle for anything less.
You are already determining the kind of life you want for yourself by considering self-care options. This kind of agency allows you to commit to decisions more, reaffirming your ability to choose what is best for you and standing behind that choice. When you can decide on the trajectory of your life, you can start to feel more confident over what you are doing because it has become purposeful. Everyone has a profound need to feel as though they matter, and self-care is one of the ways to identify that agency.
Awareness of Your Surroundings and Yourself
By becoming more considerate of how you perceive yourself and translating it onto self-care for your self-image, you become more aware of those around you as well as yourself. You start to identify your innate desires and try to satisfy yourself by meeting those wants to suggest that you have lived a purposeful life. There may be happiness rooted when what you believe is being acknowledged by everyone else.
Moreover, even though you have your innate desires, they are often shaped by your environment. Your awareness of the possibilities for greatness stem from the idea of greatness in your surroundings. For instance, being aware of the body type of a celebrity might make you aspire to reach that body type for yourself so that you can feel more confident as an attribute of your self-love. Through collecting ideas of what can come close to perfection, you start to shape your self-concept and develop habits to reach that kind of self-image. At the end of the day, when you have the agency to decide on the life you want, you might consider imitating the traits of those who are adored around you. This means you will have to look toward other individuals to develop a sense of inspiration that can motivate you later on—an essential aspect of overcoming the challenges associated with self-care.
Positive Affirmation
Using phrases that reflect an optimistic mindset, as well as those that encourage you to believe in self-care, can lead to a better perception of yourself. You start to overcome the negativity from self-doubt or past traumatic experiences and begin to live as someone worthy of love and praise. Regardless of what you tell yourself every single day, self-image has a significant impact on how you live your life. Therefore, it is important to dedicate moments of each day toward reminding yourself of your worth as a kind of self-care so that you can develop a better appreciation of yourself.
Final Thoughts
Self-care and self-image are closely linked because of the positive feedback loop it creates. The more you take care of yourself, the better your perception of self becomes because you start to value yourself more.
