When I sat down to choose the topic for my first blog post, my mind went blank.

Completely blank.

I was getting a bit frustrated because nothing was coming to mind at all and I always work best when I have something, even if it is terrible, to start off with.

Then my inner voice kicked in with a gentle reminder to breathe.

“That’s it!” I said to myself. “Self care!”

I know that when people hear the phrase self care, they have certain perceptions of it. The truth of it is, however, that we all already engage in some forms of self care - we just don’t necessarily associate the activity with the term.

I invite you to take a moment to consider that self care is basically taking care of yourself. 

Looking at it like this, it becomes easier to appreciate that self care can take many forms (e.g. physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual & financial). 

Physical self care involves attending to the needs of our physical bodies.
Social self care is concerned with meeting our need to feel connected to others and like we belong.
Emotional self care covers things that help us experience our emotions fully in a safe, healthy way.
Mental self care (also known as intellectual self care) focuses on keeping our brains engaged and stimulated.
Spiritual self care involves things that bring us a sense of peace. Religious worship and prayer are included here, though the scope of spiritual self care is broader than just the religious experience.
Financial self care focuses on how we manage our money so we can pay for the things we need and want.

In the above image, you can see some examples from each type of self care.

Human beings are complex so it’s almost to be expected that things we do to fulfill a certain type of self care need will sometimes help fulfill a different self care need as well. This is seen with sleep - we physically need good quality sleep and it also has a positive impact on our ability to handle our emotions.

While we always need to be looking after ourselves, this becomes a more important thing when we are under greater levels of stress. Like we all are right now with the pandemic and associated restrictions - not to mention any of the current political or social tensions. Engaging in increased and targeted self care when we’re feeling the strain helps by giving us a bit more of a buffer for dealing with everything. It won’t cure it or make you untouchable - it will just improve your ability to cope. 

When we cope better, we suffer less. We also are better able to care for those around us and help them. So, really, self care is anything but selfish.

With a greater awareness of the broad scope of self care, I hope more people will feel able to talk about it and recognise that it’s OK to do more self care when things are getting a bit much for them!