Because everyone needs a reminder to check in with themselves.
This past week was an especially difficult one for me. While I will not go into the personal details of what made it so tiring and stressful, I can say it was a week unlike anything I have experienced before. Now that I am in a new week, I had to stop and think about what I went through and it made me realize how much I need to work on self care.
I am a huge supporter of self care, but as much as I preach it, I almost never practice it myself. I am not very good at letting things go and there is no way that I can ever avoid responsibilities or convince myself to not do something that I have to do. At the same time though, there are so many ways to practice self care. It can be whatever works the best for yourself, but the only person who can determine that is you.
For me, self care is taking a night off. If I do not have any pressing matters to attend to, I am going to do something that does not involve work. It could be reading a book that is not for school or watching something on Netflix. I personally love reading, so doing that is a pleasant activity to me, but to others it would be something forced that they would not want to do. On the other hand, something that would not be self care for me that typically is for others is to take a day off of class, or purposefully miss an assignment. That is something that I just cannot do, and would only bring me more stress and anxiety. Knowing yourself and what you react to first is the best way to know self care.
Essentially, self care is knowing your limits. It is so easy, especially in the world that we live in today, to burn yourself out without even knowing it. There is competition in every aspect of life now, not just the parts that you would expect competition in. Perfection is a standard that is spread on social media, and those that cannot live up to it feel so much less than others. In reality, no one is perfect, no matter what social media says. Again, this goes for every aspect of life, whether it is fitness, relationships, money, traveling, education, or just general happiness. Attempting to live up to the expectations of social media is the easiest way to burn yourself out and lose perspective. That is why I like to include ignoring social media in my self care. This is something that is very difficult for me because I like to stay updated on other people’s lives and I cannot focus on one thing for too long, so I often use social media as a distraction. But when I am able to take a break from social media, I feel so much better about myself.
Overall, remember to practice self care. Know what you need, and do not worry about what other people do. If you need to sit back and ask yourself if you are just preaching self care and not actually practicing it, that is ok too. Life can be hard, and each day needs to be taken as a separate adventure. Self care recenters your values and mindset, and is important to practice always.