The Importance of Self Care
Recognizing the importance of self care is crucial to living a happy, productive and successful life. Check out this expert advice.
We all know the old adage “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” It’s been repeated over and over for one simple reason — it’s 100% true and accurate!
Yet even though we may acknowledge that truth, it’s all too easy to let the busyness of life and our daily commitments take over. It is easier to put our own needs and care on the back-burner so that we don’t “drop the ball” or let someone else down.
That’s no way to go through life. You will become resentful, burnt out, and unhealthy if you continue to ignore your own self care. Don’t believe us? Check out what these 5 experts have to say on the subject!
So why is it that even though we know that it’s important to take care of ourselves, we can’t find the time or energy to do it? Why do we so often have trouble not just taking care of ourselves, but being kind to ourselves?
A major problem for many of us, of course, is time. We’re too busy with our very full, often very rich lives, and we simply don’t have time to pamper ourselves. Besides, with so many other things to do, self-care sometimes feels like an indulgence, or worse, a selfish act. Never mind that we all know, as the airlines tell us, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you try to help someone else. As I wrote in an earlier post, it is especially important to take care of yourself when you have the responsibility of caring for someone else, whether it’s children, parents, or a sick spouse or partner.
…read more at Self-Care Is Important: Why Is It So Hard to Practice? on PsychologyToday.com
Self-care covers a lot of areas with regard to caring for yourself. It involves nurturing your body, mind and spirit. It focuses on building yourself up so that your internal resources don’t become depleted. Essentially, self-care is being as good to yourself as you would be to someone you care about. It requires you to show yourself some compassion and encourages you to be vulnerable with others, asking for help you when you need it. What doesn’t fall under the umbrella of self-care are self-destructive coping mechanisms such as using drugs, drinking, gambling or retail therapy. These things only make you feel good in the short-term.
The Benefits of Self-Care
There are lots of benefits to practicing self-care. Embracing this concept can be difficult for those who’ve always placed emphasis on the welfare of others. However, giving all your energy to those around you without filling your own back up leaves you depleted and empty. That’s no way to live. Instead, spending time and effort on yourself rejuvenates and energizes you. Taking time to indulge in your own interests demonstrates your worth, leading to improved self-esteem and a more positive outlook on the world. It teaches you a lot about yourself and provides you with insight into what you need to be the best version of yourself. Self-care helps you better cope with stress and to prioritize what’s important to you. You’ll be better able to take care of others when you also take time to meet your own needs.
…read more at Why Self-Care Matters – Super Easy Ways To Treat Yourself on ThriveGlobal.com
“Emotional self care is key in my psychotherapy practice—acknowledging, labeling, and experiencing emotions is a big component to self care,” explains Julie de Azevedo Hanks, PhD, LCSW, therapist and author of The Burnout Cure and The Assertiveness Guide for Women. “It’s simply taking care of and attending to the different aspects of life—social, emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual,” she says. “Identifying feelings helps individuals identify what they actually need to do for self care.” With so few people able to access mental healthcare services—per the National Institutes of Mental Health, only 43 percent of the 47 million adults in the US living with mental illness received mental health services in 2017—self care may be many people’s sole outlet for wellbeing.
…read more at SELF CARE IS A LIFELINE FOR MANY WOMEN—BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH on WellAndGood.com
It is very easy to get caught up in the chaos around us, whether that be our own chaos, or someone else’s. It’s a rare art form to maintain the external mask on the outside, and appear to the rest of the world like your world, ‘as they know it….’ is perfect. Its hard work keeping that mask looking unfazed… We become the masters of burying things, passing them off as nothingness, like pushing aside the panic attacks, dismissing those sweaty palms and failing to address fundamental issues that matter, like sleep!
Pretty soon we end with a very ugly mask… kinda like I was the other day and for the whole of this last week… sick, more snot than I knew what to do with…and quite literally my heart racing as I was running on empty… and barely making it to the destination. (I literally had been rushing around, going to doctors, looked horrible and almost ran out of fuel! It was a great metaphor for where I was at)
…read more at Running on Empty? The importance of self-care and discipline in effectiveness and healing on KellyHumphries.com
Self-care is a multidimensional construct, encompassing the mind-body-spirit connection. How you eat, move, relax, and connect with others all play a major role in health and healing. And luckily, many activities enhance self-care, including nutrition counseling, therapeutic yoga, massage therapy, breathwork or meditation, and journaling. Sometimes the simplest activities, practiced daily, can make a big difference.
Self-care is one of the most effective ways to help prevent and even treat chronic health conditions, including depressed mood, anxiety, pain, and chronic stress.
But understanding its importance and actually knowing how to implement self-care practices into your daily routine can be difficult. It’s understandable that you may need a little guidance.
…read more at Why Self-Care is So Important to Your Health on DrWayneJonas.com
