We’ve all seen those social media posts regarding self-care. These posts promote self-wellness by recommending different actions to help us achieve a healthy lifestyle. They say to drink water, light some candles, take a bubble bath, or wear a face mask, among other rather material tips.
Self-care is any management activity designed to deliberately enhance our own well-being. Nowadays, companies are capitalizing off of the “treat yourself” slogan by selling things like apps, bath bombs, yoga, life coaching, and gym memberships. It sounds nice, but it can go wrong when we start to use immediate gratification to temporarily diminish our stress instead of actually addressing the root causes.
Photo courtesy of Analise Benevides on Unsplash
Of course, taking care of our mental health is important. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with treating yourself. I’m just saying that when we turn to self-care to create a refuge from our responsibilities to cope with an overwhelming world, self-sabotage tends to masquerade as self-care.
Instead of focusing on our true well-being, we’ll temporarily escape the stress of daily life, making justifications to ourselves like “I deserve it.” But it’s all about your intention. For instance, if you just got home after work and your eyes are glazing over, then maybe you shouldn’t have a glass of wine and ignore your homework in the name of self-care.
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I still buy face masks and bath bombs because they make me feel good. I take naps and binge eat junk food, so maybe I should take my own advice. Obviously, these things can be gratifying in moderation, but it’s important to consider that nourishing your own physical and mental health is a better way to practice “self-care” than engaging in habits that can become a harmful avoidance from real life.
True self-care shouldn’t be an excuse to escape from our lives, but rather, a means to create a life that we don’t want to escape from in the first place.
Photo courtesy of Mari Andrew (@bymariandrew on Instagram)