Self Care

We hear a lot about self-care – articles behooving us to practice it and entire lines of products dedicated to it.   But what IS self-care?  Is it just another trend that will pass in a year or two?  

Self-care is the act of improving or restoring personal health by making yourself a priority and attending to your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs. WHEW!  That sounds like quite a bit of “caring” going on.  Simply put – it’s making sure you are a whole and happy individual.

Too often, we forget to focus on ourselves; whether it’s our children, our career, our significant other, or our commitment to family members or the community, we forget to take time for ourselves.  This can lead to unnecessary stress on your body, weakened immune system, shortened life, inflamed joints, and so many other unpleasant things.  Your body is your vessel that will carry you through your life, and when you aren’t taking care of yourself mentally and physically, your vessel gets run down.  Consider self-care as routine maintenance, much like you would schedule oil changes every three months on your car; you must make self care a priority as well.

This is the point where you’re thinking to yourself  “I simply don’t have time.”  I’m challenging you to MAKE TIME for it.  Start simple – set aside 10 minutes a day to focus on yourself.  An hour a week.  An afternoon a month.  Once you accomplish that, you can start fitting “you” into your schedule more.

Self-care doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.  Think about what it is that you liked to do, before the kids or career or community involvement.  Think about what it is that you’d like to do now.  Be reasonable with your expectations and goals and set a time line and activity that you know you can meet.  However, I think it’s important to have big goals as well.  Don’t worry if they seem far away or implausible.  Feel free to dream and dream as big as you possibly can.  Make a bucket list that contains all of those great dreams and teeny goals and start checking them off.  Nothing feels better than placing a checkmark next to a goal!  Once you start, you’ll find that you enjoy it and you are ready to work toward the big dreams.

Self-care suggestions and ideas:

• Start an art journal, set aside a little time every day or every week to work on it.
• Read a book for pleasure.  You might have a “100 Books To Read” list like I do that contains everything from sci-fi to literary “greats”.   But you might also enjoy romance novels or a good murder mystery.  Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks of what you are reading; read simply for the joy of it.
• Take yourself out for the afternoon. Go see a movie or browse a bookstore.  Meet a friend for coffee and catch-up.  Set aside an entire stretch of time to merely focus on you.  
• Allow yourself to cry.  Do you have a tearjerker movie that gets you every time?  Pop it in and grab the tissues.  Crying can release tension and help you feel more balanced and ready to take on the world!
• Reframe your mind with positive affirmations.  A positive affirmation is something spoken aloud that you want to believe or want to be true.  Repeat this affirmation daily and it can help to shift your internal dialogue from negative to positive.
• Take a class and learn something new.  Whether it is a cooking class, a foreign language, or government policy course – your brain LOVES to soak up new information.
• Get a massage or a facial.  Set aside a little money to treat yourself.  You won’t regret it!

Self-care, in the end, is all about you.  Figure out what will help you to recharge and DO IT.