Self care has been “the” buzz word for the last couple of years. What exactly is self care? Is it manicures and massages or meditation or binge watching Netflix or something else entirely?
Dictionary.com describes self care as:
1. the act of attending to one’s physical or mental health, generally without medical or other professional consultation (often used attributively):It’s been a rough week, so this weekend is all about self-care through exercise.
2. the products or practices used to comfort or soothe oneself (often used attributively): Seeing friends is my self-care. Taking a bath is a great self-care activity when you’re feeling stressed.
I’ve been thinking about self-care recently. I don’t think that self-care is about getting nails done or binge watching tv though those are perfectly fun activities! I often think about my life and how I can best live it fully and simply live in a way that feels authentic to me. I don’t think self-care is separate from daily life, I think it IS daily life. Self-care is how you strive to live your life always-what you eat, how you sleep, how you spend your time, etc… Of course, you can still do things like get a massage or take a relaxing bath because you’ve had a hard day or week. However, if you constantly live in a way where you are always stressed then you’re not really caring for yourself. By the same token, if you constantly eat crap food or don’t get enough sleep regularly will a bath or a massage really do you any good? Maybe it will for the moment but not in the long term.
This year, I am having a monthly FaceTime chat with a good friend of mine about our goals-things we want to work on but not just projects. We really spend time talking about how we want to live our lives-what we want to add, remove, change. We are supporting each others efforts as well as holding each other accountable. It’s been really helpful to talk out my thoughts and struggles. After having my monthly chat with my friend, I decided that I want to focus on one area that can have a positive impact on my life overall. Right now I have decided to focus on getting enough sleep. I have had a terrible sleeping pattern for many years now-some related to age and hormones and some related to my natural pattern. I am a night person and can easily stay up past 1 AM. I have to be conscious of the time at night and make myself start winding down before bed. I have set up Alexa to remind me at 10:00 PM Monday through Thursday to start my bedtime routine by 10:30 PM so that I can be in bed by 11:00-11:30 PM. I usually have my morning alarm go off at 7 AM giving me 7-7.5 hours of sleep per night. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Here is an article I recently read that helped me to think about self-care in a more comprehensive way.
Do you engage in self-care? What does that look like for you? Share in the comments!!
