Self-Care: Making Time for You

Self-care. It’s a term you’ve probably heard before but may not know much about. A quick Google search will give you over 50,000,000 hits on the topic, with titles such as 45 Simple Self-Care Practices for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul, or 6 Ways to Weave Self-Care into Your Workday. It’s clear this concept is meant to increase your overall well being, and be easy enough to do that you can simply incorporate it into your daily life. But what is self-care? It may seem obvious, as the name is pretty straightforward, but self-care involves caring for you, not your spouse, your kids, or your boss. YOU.

We often get caught up in work, traffic, groceries, laundry, soccer games, dance recitals, the list is endless, but when we don’t take the time to check in with ourselves, to slow down or rejuvenate, that’s when issues like chronic illness, stress, anxiety, and depression begin to surface. It’s important to take time for yourself, even if that means scheduling me-time in your calendar each day. So what constitutes self care? It can be simple like taking a walk during your lunch break or reading the book you’ve been eyeing up for months, or something a bit more involved like joining a yoga studio or taking a vacation. The important part about self-care is that it fills you up, refreshes you, or gives you a sense of peace — its purpose is to make you feel better, not worse.

We tend to do our best when we feel our best, so take a minute today to check in with how you’re feeling. Ask yourself, ‘Am I feeling stressed?’ ‘Am I feeling worn out?’ Do you have aches and pains that you didn’t realize you had been ignoring? Try incorporating some self-care into your daily routine and see what a little me-time can do for your mental and physical health.

Written by Elise Browne, MS

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