Why should Self Care be important right now when you should be thinking of others first? But then you feel the signs, You cant’ sleep. There is a constant feeling like a weight on your chest. You are always worried these days. You may have lost your job. Life is so uncertain. How long can you stay like this before you burn out?
The stories go on and on. Whether you hear it in the news or straight talk with family and friends. It is basically the same message: The world is on pause, and our lives are never the same.
We try to keep our homes and working environments regular by maintaining a positive setting. The ones with children make sure that they are following their home school tasks. Parents are juggling work and home routines and making sure the family is okay.
Table of Contents
1. Self Care is Balance
Research has identified that protective factors against stress and burnout include connectedness with children and young people and colleagues, feeling supported by colleagues, and receiving recognition for work.
beyou.edu.au
It’s not about eating and indulging on comfort foods. It’s also not binge watching on TV during rest or even scrolling on your phone in between breaks or chores. Although in reality this is what we generally do.
When times requires you to keep focus in order to protect your loved ones and community, it also means to focus on yourself too. For a system to function well, one must also be well maintained and fine tuned for consistency and longevity.
Learn to look after yourself. Remind yourself what your needs are.
2. Self Care is Not Being Egocentric
In work or at any place. No one is indispensable. They say the grave is full of indispensable people. We don’t need to pour out ourselves all the time. Always value on partnerships or team work.
Talk it over with your partner and children. Check if your children are old enough to do simple house chores and break down that major grind. At work, consult and seek advice with your boss and colleagues about an issue you are struggling with . Let us learn to delegate tasks to our family members or colleagues at work.
3. Self Care is Unique
Ask yourself what makes you feel good? Is it listening to your favourite song? Doing exercise? A quiet time with nature to disconnect? Is it baking or learning a different language?
In the early years, we start teaching young ones about self care too. We describe this as developing a strong sense of well being. Children build resilience and learn to be independent. Educators expose them to good nutrition, proper hygiene, fitness, social relationships and emotions.
Whatever that may be,it should be something you should do at least 30 minutes of each day. An average person watches TV 5 hours and 50 minutes of social media every day.
You can watch this TED talks video about what self care really is by Susannah Winters.
4. Make Self Care a Habit
Right now, a good dose of self care for me is reading uplifting books and listening to inspiring talks. I do this in the morning and in the evening before retiring to bed. I try to keep a positive environment and disconnect from the news and social media.
I consult with my husband and children on how to plan the weekly meal. They help with the menu choices and we make sure to include each ones fave. We try to compromise with substitutes since we can’t buy all the ingredients needed for some recipes.
So have you thought about making your self care routine?
“Self-care isn’t selfish (it is a gift to all concerned). You can’t serve from an empty vessel.”
~ Eleanor Brown
