Self-Care is Not Selfish
What do you do to take care of yourself? To some, self-care means getting regular check-ups, eating a balanced diet and exercising every day. Other may think of it as pampering themselves with a trip to the spa, taking a vacation, or just spending a day in bed with a good book. The point is, self-care is whatever it is to you. Personally, I get regular massage. I don't think of it as a treat; I think of it as necessary to my well-being. I have a few aches and pains. Massage, ReZume®, and CryoDerm help keep it under control. I'm also a big fan of napping, and sitting on the porch in the evening enjoying the peace and quiet. That's self-care to me.
We tend to get caught up in our responsibilities of work, school, running a household, raising children, paying bills, grocery shopping, volunteering, and the normal things that people do in their everyday lives. Many CryoDerm users are healthcare professionals, who are in the business of caring for others. It's easy to ignore our own self-care while taking care of everything and everyone else. Eventually, we pay the price for that, with stress and health issues, as well as mental, emotional, and physical fatigue.
GoodTherapy, a company that offers online counseling from licensed professionals, has a blog post detailing 134 Activities to Add to Your Self-Care Plan.
They're not what you'd expect for usual health advice, although the blog post does mention massage as one of the top three activities. A few of the other suggestions include:
- Write something encouraging on a post-it and put it where you will see it every day! Or write directly on your mirror: “I am beautiful and brave.”
- Take an Epsom salt bath in total darkness and silence, or perhaps with just a candle or two.
- Write a list of things you’re grateful to have in your life and post it somewhere you can see it often. We have a tendency to focus on the negative, so remind yourself of the good stuff.
- When you wake up in the morning, get in the habit of making your first thought a positive one: “I am ready for today.” “Today is a new opportunity.” “I will do something I am proud of today.”
Self-care doesn't have to be expensive, or take up a lot of time. Random moments during the day can be used for self-care...meditate for a few minutes. Put on a song that makes you want to dance and do it! Perform a random act of kindness...it will make you feel good!
Self-care is not selfish; in fact, it's just the opposite. Whatever your responsibilities are, you'll be able to take care of them with more energy and more enjoyment if you're also making time to care for yourself.