Self-care has become such a buzzword in recent years, it feels like it has lost all meaning.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of us have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope at some point during the last year. How can we find the time to start seamlessly incorporating self-care into our routines when we’re already feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, and on the road to burnout?How do we know we’re ‘remembering to practice self-care’, let alone if we’re ‘doing it right’? We’re already feeling pressure from all sides: constant social media notifications, new emails, perfect selfies and flawless photos filling our news feeds 24/7.
Boosting Self-Care
Podcasts offer a great way to inspire new ways for us to look after ourselves. And they encourage us to think of self-care, mental health and well-being in a new light. At its core, self-care is all about looking after ourselves and making small lifestyle changes that can improve or maintain our overall sense of well-being.
It’s easy to feel guilty or selfish for taking time out of our busy schedules to do something we enjoy or find relaxing. However, it can help us feel better and more ready to face other areas of our lives. Self-care helps us to become more aware of our own health and needs, teaching us simple ways we can start taking care of ourselves mentally and physically to feel better as a whole.
Introducing us to new ideas, raising thought-provoking questions, and dispelling the technical jargon around well-being, podcasts can help remind us that we’re not alone (no matter how stressed we may feel).
Discover how you can start practising regular self-care and put your well-being first with these nine inspirational podcasts.
Courage + Spice: The podcast for humans with self-doubt
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
Offering practical, actional advice alongside interviews from inspirational people, Courage + Spice is all about overcoming self-doubt to do big things. Hosted by self-doubt researcher, coach and mentor, Sas Petherick. Discover how self-doubt may be holding you back in your personal or professional life.
Mixing together personal stories and research-led approaches, each episode focuses on a different topic. This helps listeners to take charge of their self-doubt, overcome their inner critic, and start cultivating self-acceptance (and self-belief).
The Hardcore Self Help Podcast
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
From the author of best-sellers Hardcore Self Help: F**K Anxiety and Hardcore Self Help: F**K Depression psychologist Dr. Robert Duff answers all the big questions around mental health without the technical jargon.
The self-help podcast for people who usually hate self-help. Weekly episodes tackle complex, everyday issues, breaking them down to make them that little bit less scary.
Selfie
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
Tackling the elusive aspects about caring for ourselves, lifestyle blogger and self-help aficionado Sarah James along with psychotherapist and writer Kristen Howerton share their words of wisdom about ‘self-care and other s**t’.
Each week, Sarah and Kristen share a new episode exploring important self-care questions. How do I get enough sleep, why don’t I eat the way I should, and what’s the best way to deal with pubic hair?
Blending humour with serious topics, discover more about the little distractions and excuses that could be keeping you from taking care of yourself.
Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
This podcast is from the author of multiple best-selling books on happiness including The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, and Happier at Home. Gretchen Rubin’s weekly podcast offers practical tips and words of support to help you tackle common worries and find your happiness.
This award-winning, self-proclaimed self-helpful (not self-help) podcast emphasises the importance of knowing ourselves and focusing on what works for you. So, rather than focusing on what should work, discover how you can feel happier, healthier, and more productive through making small changes to your routine and life.
I am. I have
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
Created by Happiful Magazine and Counselling Directory, I am. I have brings weekly updates from mental health advocates, social influencers, and trained professionals. A podcast all about the power of talking and the benefits of presenting our whole selves to the world. Each week host Lucy Donoughue talks with guests about their experiences.
Guests from Estée Lalonde to Ben Bidwell (aka The Naked Professor) share the three greatest passions that have helped shape their lives. And a mental health challenge they have experienced or currently live with, offering reflection and words of wisdom.
In mini-episodes, qualified experts share advice on everyday issues from relationships to anxiety, offering actionable advice and guidance.
Terrible, Thanks for Asking
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
When someone asks you how you are, what’s your automatic answer? So, when most of us ask the question, it’s more out of politeness rather than a genuine expectation that someone is going to open up. But, what if we did change that automatic response? What if we actually started talking about how we’re doing? Host Nora McInerny looks to do just that.
From the co-founder of the ‘Hot Young Widows Club’ and non-profit ‘Still Kickin’’, comes the brutally honest, often funny, uncomfortable but poignant Terrible, Thanks for Asking. Nora talks openly about pain, awkwardness, and what makes us human. And her podcast helps highlight that we may all struggle, but we aren’t alone.
The Minimalists
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
If the recent Marie Kondo ‘Konmarie’ method has piqued your interest, The Minimalists could be the podcast for you.
Having pursued a minimalist lifestyle since 2010, podcasters, speakers and authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus have built their career helping people discover how they can live with less. From cutting out toxic relationships to healthy self-care practices, Joshua and Ryan’s advice is equal parts sensible and brutal. They help listeners discover how they can start living a more mindful, minimalist life.
Happy Place
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place delves into everything happiness-related. She chats with a new celebrity each episode from Paloma Faith to Stephen Fry. Fearne explores the changes people have made in their daily lives to unlock their inner happiness.
The Struggle Bus
Available on Stitcher for iOS, Android and online.
A podcast all about self-care, mental health, and ‘just getting through the day’. Co-hosts Katherine Heller and Sally Tamarkin answer listener questions about love, life, mental health, and everything else. In bi-weekly episodes, co-host BFF’s offer solutions and opinions on topics big and small.
Bio
Bio Bonnie Evie Gifford is a writer for Counselling Directory, Happiful Magazine, and Life Coach Directory. We’re on a mission to create a healthier, happier, more sustainable society, breaking the stigma around mental health and promoting support for everyone, no matter what their situation.
Twitter @begifford.
If you like this post, why not also read 4 Strategies to Turbo-Turbo Charge Your Happiness or 20 Tips For a Happier You.
If you’re feeling lost or stuck and want to reconnect with yourself, push yourself forward and thrive more – but just don’t know how to – then Lou (founder of Woman Ready) can help you. Have you thought about life coaching? Or why not check out our course, 30 Days To A Happier You?
very nice article to understand in simple language.
thank you!
Such great advise!
Thanks for your comment. Yes I think the older I’ve got, the more I enjoy those little things too.