I don’t know about you but my timelines are filled with someone talking about self care. There’s so much chatter about how important it is. Talks about how it’s sacred, not selfish. Let me say, I’m one of those people. I’m all for it. I’m all for the message of taking care of you being a priority. I don’t think it has to be complicated though.
Self care is simply the ways the we care for ourselves big or small. We do have to be intentional about it. The busier life gets, the harder that is. The thing is, all the talk about self care can make it just plain stressful. When you’re thinking about how you are going to squeeze just one more thing into your already packed days – it’s definitely stress. If it’s going to cause you stress, then what’s the point, right?
Say your intent was to incorporate healthier eating into your diet and you fall off your plan a day… or three. If your response is to immediately kick yourself and fell horrible about your misstep you’d be missing the point. So, how do you avoid this? Glad you asked.
Self Care Stress
First, decide if your self care activity of choice is motivated by you or other people? If it’s other people, there’s the first problem. Your self care has to be about you. If it’s not you won’t be motivated to stick with it. It will be much easier to ignore it altogether.
Are you focused to much on the activities and not the benefits? If you’re more focused on checking are certain number of workouts off your list instead of enjoying the benefits you get from that exercise, it becomes more of a chore. No one likes a chore. No one is in a rush with excitement to start a chore. Make sure you enjoy what you’ve chosen to do. If not, switch it to something that you do enjoy.
Do you feel guilty about your self care practice? This is a big one with mamas. We feel like we’re taking time away from our kids when we spend time solely on ourselves. We all know that we can’t pour from an empty cup. We’ve heard it a million times. Well, we’ve heard it so much because it’s true. Taking an hour to ourselves isn’t neglect. Depending on how old the kids are you can find more or less pockets of time for yourself. Do what you can with the time you have.
Anther idea is to instead figure out ways to delegate things in your life. Maybe you’re burned out from doing so much at work and then having equally as much to do at home. Can you and your partner work better at divying up duties? Can you hire someone to do some things to free up your time? A cleaning service, a food delivery kit? Taking things off your plate is a great way to free up time for yourself.
The bottom line is, if self care isn’t adding to your life and making you feel good, what’s the point. Take a closer look and tweak it until it works for you.
