May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Today's "You Matter" reminders are courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Self-care is about finding practices that help you thrive, and it can include a range of things. It takes purposeful effort, but it can help you maintain or improve your daily mental wellbeing. It can be helpful to think of it as taking time to care for yourself as you would others.

Prioritizing time for self-care doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive, and it is important for you to find out what works best for you. Below are a few different ways to nurture your mental wellbeing, from the Mental Health Coalition:

• Physical: Notice and address the stress that shows up in your body. Notice what physical activities reduce or alleviate physical pain, tension and mental stress for you. Some common activities are massages, hugging loved ones with their consent, fitness, dance, aromatherapy, rest, and boundary setting.
• Emotional: Tend to your own internal emotional world – especially your mood and feelings. Ways to tend to your emotional self can include connecting with others, naming and acknowledging your emotions, psychotherapy, journaling or creative writing, art, and setting boundaries for your emotional wellbeing.
• Cognitive: Engage in activities that are intellectually rewarding and/or stimulating. This can include reading, writing, listening to books or podcasts, watching films, and psychotherapy.
• Spiritual: This can take many different forms and does not have to be tied to formal religion. It means getting in touch with the less tangible aspects of yourself and the world around you. This can include meditation, breathwork, prayer, connecting with a spiritual or religious community, mantras.

Especially during times of stress and uncertainty, identifying a few small ways to take care of yourself can help maintain your mental health and wellbeing. Set aside the time you need to do it, give yourself permission to embrace it if it is hard for you to prioritize yourself, and work towards adding these moments regularly into your life. Know that what taking care of yourself may look like can change over time, and it is okay to adapt to what activities you engage in to fit your needs.