There have been plenty of periods in my life where I’ve had plenty of time that was spent not working. I can also tell you that during most of those times, I wasn’t devoting my energy to self-care. I never felt rested. I was tired. I was angry. I was wound waaaaay too tight. I preached the value of self-care left and right, but wasn’t putting it into practice in my own life.
What is self-care?
It can be described in a variety of ways, but the gist is that it is the act of nourishing and protecting yourself – body, mind, and spirit. Funny side note: I’m in a women’s coaching group and we spent a couple of weeks talking about self-care. One of the leaders threw out the term “extreme self-care.” As proof that you can find almost anything online, I found an article on extreme self-care (scroll to mid-page). The author, Jan Hornford, explains:
Extreme Self-care is about making a high level commitment to yourself and committing the motivation, energy, and time required to nurture your Self so that you can be the best person you can be.
Maybe you’re like me. If so, you might find it hard to completely pull yourself away from work for a while – I wasn’t working, per se, but I’d still listen to voicemails and respond to emails. Maybe you don’t put enough effort into pampering yourself. I’m really bad about that, and make plenty of excuses.
I’m learning that self-care, just like anything else you want to be good at, takes work. So yes, I might have to force myself to allow a little pampering into my life. I’m no privileged princess, and have no desire to be one, so I’m not talking about lush and luxurious experiences. Here’s an example: I’m not a huge manicure/pedicure kind of person, but it is kind of nice to get that foot and leg massage when you go in for an appointment. A couple of weeks ago, I made myself get a manicure and pedicure. It had been about eight months since my last pedicure. For the manicure, four or five. How did I force myself? My landlady said she was going, so I told her to just make appointments for both of us. Also, she had the appointment set for after we went out to breakfast. I boxed myself into it – she’d be waiting for me in the car, and once we finished breakfast, there’s no way I’d ask her to turn around and drop me off at home.
I went to the appointment…and it was nice. I was able to relax, even if it was just an hour. My feet were being held in some lady’s hands, so I couldn’t get up and walk around. I had to let the polish on my nails dry, so I couldn’t play with my cell phone. I even got a chance to doze off in the chair – but that might have been the breakfast of chorizo, potatoes, rice, and refried beans in combination with the fantastic foot massage.
You wouldn’t think that taking care of yourself would require so much effort – but sometimes it does. Self-care looks different for each one of us. For me, it is definitely NOT getting pedicures on a weekly basis, but maybe it is for you. Or maybe for you it involves going for a hike, sleeping in on weekends, cooking more instead of eating fast food. For me, it might be to allow myself the opportunity to wander around Downtown L.A. each month for the Art Walk.
I’m still working on changing my habits, but here’s what I’ve learned about self-care on my journey thus far:
- Self-care is essential if you don’t want to spend your life being miserable all the time!
- Commit your time off to things that are completely non-work related.
- Have fun!
- Get some sort of exercise every day (even if it’s just a walk around the block).
- Moisturize head-to-toe every day, even though it takes forever.
- Forgo busyness and focus on being fruitful and productive/efficient (and use that “extra” time to relax).
- Get plenty of rest.
- Only commit to things I *really* want to do.
My next big ideas for self-care are a massage (I’ve never had one!), checking out a yoga class to see if I like it, and limiting myself to one Sprite a week (oy!).
Hi, brilliant post. My self care is on a Saturday morning when I escape the house for a few hours and just be with myself. first I visit my favorite coffe shop then I go visit the local library before heading home.
It’s only a few hours once a week but they’re all mine and a time I use to regenerate myself for the week ahead.
Thanks Andrew! That’s good that you have regular time set aside for self-care. I’m trying to get to that place. Taking care of and making time for yourself is definitely a great way to regenerate.
[…] time to do the things you want to do and finding the time to take care of yourself can take some disciple. If you have not done it already, map your commitments. Figure out what your […]
[…] time to do the things you want to do and finding the time to take care of yourself can take some disciple. If you have not done it already, map your commitments. Figure out what your […]
Tahnks for posting
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