Self Care = Caring for yourself
Like mindfulness and meditation, the words self care have been increasing in the articles printed on health.
In the last few days, there have been more than 3 published articles on self care by news organizations like the Huffington Post and Forbes to name a few.
Self care is defined as care under individual control and self initiated. What people say they want to do and what they actually do for self care is evident in our day to day lives. People at work are often exhausted and stressed. They come into work sick.
When I have asked friends, ‘Why are you not taking care of yourself?’, a majority of them say that they are too busy. It seems that being busy is more important than taking care of oneself.
Busy is better
Being busy is a good thing right?! You are important when you are busy. It’s great when you work overtime and make more money. More money will give you more time and more time will allow you to take care of yourself later. At least that’s what I hear a lot of people tell themselves.
The reality is that later is now and now is the time to take care of yourself, not later.
I’m completely guilty of wearing my busy badge proudly until my body has broken down to the point where I can’t do anything but be forced to rest because of the fatigued I caused.
The definition of self care, is care under individual control and self initiated. Not all of us are able to care for ourselves and some of us require assistance on a daily basis. But for those of us who can take care of ourselves, I have a couple of questions: What does it mean to take care of yourself? Did we ever learn to take care of ourselves?
Where do we start? Here are a few ideas
- Observing habits good and bad
- After observations look for areas to focus on self care
- Do (1) thing daily to focus on self care
A little bit can go a long way-Charity starts at home. Taking care of ones self is the most important thing you can do because it facilitates all the other things you want and need to do in your life.
