Self-Care Isn’t Selfish by Meredith Nowak
Are you feeling stressed, frazzled, or even burnout? These days, it can seem impossible to find moments for personal time away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Even if there is time, it can seem so daunting to put time aside for ourselves if you do not even know where to begin. I am here to share everything about self-care! What it is, how you can implement it in your daily life, and the importance of it.
What is Self-Care?:
Self-care is the practice of taking an active role in one’s own well-being and happiness, particularly in times of stress. This can include caring for your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being to positively impact your overall life. In more simplistic terms, self-care is anything that you do to promote your own well-being, health, and happiness! Self-care is something that helps us be stronger, healthier, and greater for ourselves and for those around us.
How to Implement Self-Care in Your Life and Key Reminders:
Within this idea of self-care, it is important to remember some key points. First, self-care ISN’T selfish. Self-care is a personal and sacred experience. No matter what your self-care method or routine is, it is okay to say “no” sometimes in order to devote the time for it to yourself. It can be hard to do this at first. At the same time, you owe it to yourself and it takes some practice and dedication to become mindful about daily self-care!
Second, self-care may not always be things that are “enjoyable” or something you necessarily want to do at the end of a long day. However, it still benefits you. For example, going on a run after work, cleaning or organizing your space, going to bed earlier, eating a bowl of fruit instead of a less healthier option…and, making sure you treat yourself every once and a while.
These self-care activities add up over time and can make positive changes in your life even if in the moment, it is one more thing to add to your daily list of tasks or does not sound like it can change much. Self-care is a process that is ever changing and adds up over time!
Building Resiliency and Preventing Burnout:
Self-care is important because it creates positive impacts in an individual in multiple areas of their life. More specifically, practicing self-care builds up resiliency and aids in combating burnout.
A more in-depth goal of self-care is to maintain health and wellness while simultaneously preventing burnout and building up resiliency in an individual. Resiliency is one’s ability to bounce back after a stressful or negative situation. By practicing mindful, intentional, and daily self-care we are building up resilience for the future when we encounter stress, conflict, or a negative experience in our lives. At the same time, intentional self-care aids in preventing burnout. Burnout is a severe stress condition that negatively affects our physical, mental, and emotional health. For example, high-stress work days with no self-care can lead to burnout in individuals. Burnout can feel like extreme exhaustion, loss of motivation, lack of creativity, and can even lead to problems with sleep at the end of a long work day. By practicing daily self-care, we are simultaneously building up our resiliency and combating the effects of burnout by engaging our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health in positive ways.
Overall, self-care is an important part of one’s health, wellbeing, and overall happiness. Something as little as calling a friend after work, listening to your favorite music, or going on a run can make a difference in multiple aspects of your life and health. In addition, mindful and intentional self-care leads to a decrease in burnout and an increase in resiliency, preparing us for the future. Self-care is a unique and sacred practice that is different for everyone! And, self-care ISN’T selfish!