Understanding Self Care
2-minute read
We’ve heard it a gazillion times. That word. Self-care. It seems like one of those buzz terms that people throw around to seem like they understand what it is, but what I have learned is that it is a fleeting idea that MUST be contained, maintained, sought after, and nurtured.
Ok, so what does it mean? What is self-care without using the word to define itself? I will define it here as any set of thoughts, ideas, actions, interventions, movements, or life edits that seek to restore or rejuvenate oneself. That seems pretty simple right? I would like to think so, but I believe that most people have trouble achieving the and being consistent with it. It’s one thing to learn how to pull the emergency brake when it feels like life is running off of the rails, but it is another thing to recognize the burnout road 10 steps ahead so that we are not having to go into emergency safety mode.
Think of self-care as an ongoing maintenance of self.
Self-care should exist everyday, not just those once in a while spa appointments and weeklong beach vacations. Although those are good, these are few and far in-between for most of us. Here are a few different examples of that rejuvenating self-care:
Going to the gym, yoga or some other fitness class
Taking a quick 5 minute breather after a work meeting
Watching cat videos on YouTube
Scheduling time to hang out with a friend even if it’s far into the future
Re-evaluating your boundaries with work, people, and time that you might spend doing things that don’t feel good to you.
I am not sure if you caught it, but I also mentioned making some life-edits in the earlier definition. What do I mean by that?
Make edits to your work schedules. Try to understand if you are scheduling too many meetings or traveling too much. Are you able to cut back here?
This may be cutting back on a friendship or relationship that is especially taxing. Of course there is a LOT more nuance here to talk through.
Does this mean that you need to pull back the reins on social activities in order to get some real rest or “disappear” from the social scene for a bit.
Does it feel like you might use substances too much and it inhibits your ability to be “ready” when needed such as going to work or school or being present for family and friends.
Whatever you decide to do to manage your own self-care may start by doing an inventory of two things: What’s good and what’s working should be first. The next inventory that you’ll do is deciding what isn’t working and what just does not feel good in your day to day. I would advocate for you to find a therapist to help further navigate the ins and outs of additions and edits to life, but at the very least it can be helpful to understand what about our situations we can control and other parts of our lives that may not be so easy to change.