All my blogs are usually child centric or child related but today I want to talk about “how to care about yourself, as an individual”. We have become parents by choice, this does not mean we cannot care/pamper about ourselves sometimes.
Self-care is a much-needed topic to be discussed. In today’s stressful life, self-care is very much needed. Some people think, thinking about yourself is partiality, but it is not true. If you are happy, then only you can make other people happy. So being happy is very important.
Self-care techniques and general lifestyle changes can manage a lot of issues including mental health problems.
Self-care is not at all selfish. It is easy to for us (women) to feel guilty when spending time to ourselves. We should take out time for ourselves and do something which we love. It can be reading a book, doing some gardening, meditating, any other activity/hobby. Continuously keeping ourselves busy with office, looking after kids, their studies and all other home chores and overall responsibilities. It is a normal phenomenon to care for others that we forget to care about ourselves.
Initially, we have to understand what is self-care?
Self-care is making a conscious decision in which you make time to do the things you enjoy. It can be both productive and non-productive in order to improve your mental and physical health.
Today, the scenario is quite stressful. We have to perform everywhere, career, kids performance, family, being the best in everything.
It’s important to know it’s not selfish to say no. Learning to say no without the guilt can be quite a task. This ability and confidence can give you the time and energy you need to rest, recharge and live a happy life. We need to be happy to make others happy.
Self-care is up to you, whatever you need it to be, but you need to listen to your body to really understand what it wants.
· It really depends on what you need. You might be able to relax and recharge short-term through spending a weekend with friends and family, meeting them, cooking exotic food, some gup-shup, etc.
· Taking a short holiday from work to explore a new city/village provided it is within few hours from your home. Remember you want to relax and not to stress yourself.
· Active social life, it depends on your personality actually. Being social is your choice. Many people love to join some hobby classes. It can be painting, sculpturing, doodling, mandala painting, etc. These are meant to reduce the stress level.
· Look in your local area for organizations, such as book clubs, laughing clubs, volunteering to meet new people.
· If you want you can contribute towards the development of the society. It can be any voluntary work as –
-- Teaching underprivileged children
-- Coaching senior citizens how to be gadget friendly
-- Community work- associating yourself with some local cleaning up / planting saplings in your area/any hilly place around.
-- Asking for help when needed. Self-care is about caring for yourself, accepting help when it’s needed is a big part of self-help management. If you’re stressed, unwell or the feeling of lonliness, etc going through it alone makes the journey all the more difficult. Counselling is very important at this time and it gives us an inside glimpse of your life. Depression / feeling of loneliness is not an overnight development. Few event/events in our life lead to depression. A counsellor can help you learn how to cope with your stressors.
· When we were children, we’re taught by our parents/guardians to look after ourselves, from physical actions, like brushing our teeth daily, taking a bath every day, to going to bed early, learning how to talk about our feelings, going to a doctor when unwell, etc. As adults, why should this be any different? Giving time to yourself is caring for your mind and body.
Therefore, summing up my topic, self-care is much needed to keep ourselves physically healthy and mindful.