I know some readers are thinking… here we go, another write up about “self-care.” (eye roll)....But hear me out!
Reasons to Discuss Self-Care
1. Self-care is extremly important to our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.
2. Selfishly, writing about this topic will motivate me. By writing this, it will motivate me to practice self-care a little more and be more mindful when I’m doing it because let’s face it, a lot of us will engage in one small self-care task but will wait days or weeks, (or dare I say it, months), to complete another self-care task. So, we are in this together. It’s decided!
SELF-CARE
First let’s dissect each word in SELF-CARE.
Oxford defines SELF as: “a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others,
especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action.”
CARE....interestingly enough, is used as a noun AND a verb.
According to Oxford, CARE as a noun is defined as: “serious attention or consideration
applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk.” Care as a verb is
defined as, “look after and provide for the needs of.”
So if we put those two words and definitions together, let’s ask ourselves....are we giving
serious attention or consideration to our own personal being to avoid damaging or risking it (ourselves)??
We May be Hurting Ourselves
Whoa! Even when I read this and break it down, it is rather eye opening. It’s so true, right?
When we break down those two words and look at them separately and together it makes
sense. We know if we keep running around doing mindless tasks or chores or never taking a break, we can damage our health and wellbeing. We see it all the time with people having heart attacks because they did not take care of themselves. Not to mention, (but I’m actually mentioning), high blood pressure, intense anxiety, strokes, more sickness like cold and flu, the list goes on!
Let’s Make a Plan
So let’s make it a point to say… “Hey self! You are very important to me and I need to show it by caring for you like I mean it!” What I analogize it as is when flight attendants announce the safety rules before take-off and what they say about the masks. In case of an emergency, when the masks drop down from above the cabin, you put your mask on FIRST and then you can help others with theirs. After hearing that our brains run wild and we say that it is selfish to tend to ourselves before we help someone else. But guess what!?! We can’t help someone if we both can’t breathe and as a result have passed out! Karen on the side of us put her mask on first and now she can help me and my child because we both passed out from not breathing.
So let’s make it a point to decrease the risk of damaging our personal being and start looking after it. We are in this together remember?!? It’s too late, you already promised at the beginning of the blog.
More to Come!
Stay tuned for the next blog about self-care tips and ideas!
