On account of the celebration of International Self Care Day “ 24th July, I would like to discuss self-care as a concept in detail. According to the World health Organization (WHO) self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of healthcare provider.
In simpler terms, self-care is holding the awareness that I am important and thereby participating in activities that empower self to take care of own self. Self-care needs to be viewed as a responsibility that we owe to our physical and mental health. Self-care denotes taking care of physical, psychological and social aspects of self.
The activities that we choose to do for self-care will differ from one person to another. It involves all the steps and activities that we take on in order to manage and cope with the recurrent stressors of our lives with a goal to improvise wellbeing on the whole.
The concept of self-care is often misunderstood. We feel that self-care is a selfish act, which goes against everything we are conditioned over the course of years. Right from young age we have constantly been told that being selfish is not a good virtue and it is important to take care of the needs of others. A lot of my clients who come into therapy readily speak about the guilt that they experience when they prioritize themselves before others. It is also modeled so often in our families, especially by parents, who selflessly continue doing everything for the rest of the families, without prioritizing themselves.
What we are not often told is that it is okay for us to prioritize our needs and our happiness first. We would only be able to continue performing our goals and responsibilities, when we take care of our own selves.
Another misunderstanding that people often hold is that self-care is an act of luxury and they can practice self-care only when they have enough time or resources for the same. The truth be told, we will never have enough time. For the things that are important to us, we need to make the time. If not, we would find ourselves relentlessly giving multiple excuses. Self-care has nothing to do with luxury. It has more to do with ensuring our needs are being met, while enjoying the things that make us happy and help us cope with the stressors of life.
Self-care can be viewed as activities that we practice as rituals on daily, weekly or monthly basis in a consistent fashion that help us empower wellbeing. Self-care is allowing us to experience nurturing and being taken care of. Self-care is much more than temporary gratification. The activities that we perform certainly make us feel pleasant in the present moment, but also make us feel good in the long run. To elaborate further, anything that makes us feel good in the present moment, but makes us feel guilty and ashamed in the long run, cannot be seen as an act of self care.
For instance, daily exercise not only makes us feel good in that moment, but also makes us feel better as the results are seen on our bodies. Binge eating on the other hand, may make us feel really good in the present moment, however, it makes us feel terrible and guilty in the future.
In order to begin a self-care routine, you need to allow yourself to experiment with different things to see what makes you feel happy. Traditionally, self-care only consisted of healthy diet, sleep patterns, regular exercise and work life balance. Today, self care contains all the activities that you do for yourself, all the activities that you enjoy, bring feelings of positivity and pleasantness, not only in the present moment, but afterwards also, that is all the activities that you look forward for at the end of the day. Self-care routine needs be tailored individually based on your needs. The goal is to maintain consistency and keeping it simple.
Examples of healthy self-care routines
De-cluttering closet or office space once a week
Five minutes meditation every day
Practicing positive affirmations every morning
Socializing with quality people once a week
Daily journaling of thoughts
Five minutes reflection time to decompress through the day
Mindful and conscious eating
Expressing 10 things you are grateful for at the end of the day
Making a plan for the Next day
Spending Sunday evenings with family
Growing a plant and taking care of it
Listening to podcasts on the way to college/work
30 minutes of regular work out
