Setting aside time to rest and take care of yourself is one of the most important skills you can develop. When schedules and assignments and life becomes overwhelming, it is vital we take time away from everything to recharge or rest. If we forget to make time for ourselves, we can bring on mental breakdowns or other stress-related reactions. Taking care of ourselves can help prevent these things from happening, and ultimately make you feel much better about whatever is going on our lives.
In my home, the holidays were always relatively quiet and peaceful. We spent most of our days at home, enjoying each other and playing games and watching tv, or going outside together to build snowmen or snow forts. This year, everything changed. Suddenly I, the introvert who was easily exhausted after spending long amounts of time around people, starting receiving invitations from friends to go out. I happily accepted individual invitations. Sure, the days would be long, but I was just agreeing to a few days.
However slowly, my month began to fill up and I was spending a large portion of my days around groups of people for extended periods of time. It wasn’t that I disliked being around people. I love being around people, I crave the companionship and the shared memories and experiences. I simply love people. However, spending large amounts of time around them would tire me out and leave me feeling worn out and stretched as I went throughout my weeks. Looking at my calendar and all the days of winter break I had left, I began to feel overwhelmed.
I was tempted to call my friends and tell them I was unavailable to hang out. But I knew I would regret missing out on the day trips and shopping and dinners if I backed out. So instead, I decided to prepare myself for the wave of social outings, and figure out a recovery plan that I could use after my social time to relax and prepare for the next day.
I set aside specific days where I could stay home all day in hoodies and sweatpants and simply watch dramas or movies. I got back into my old habit of bringing a book everywhere I went. Reading had been one of my preferred recharge methods since I was younger, so if I never needed a break from being around people, I could slip away for a short time and read somewhere.
Learning how to take care of ourselves is difficult. I’m still learning how to do it. But it’s important we learn how to recognize signs and signals our body tells us when it needs time out. But if there’s anything these past few weeks have taught me, it’s that being a little selfish sometimes and focusing on yourself can be what prevents a shutdown. Sometimes, being selfish isn’t necessarily bad. Our state of well-being is just as important as everyone else’s, and if putting ourselves first sometimes helps to boost our mental state, then so be it.