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Monday, January 13, 2020

Self Care


Now that the holidays are over and we can slow down a little. The New Year often brings New Year’s Resolutions with it. Now would be a good time to start some self-care. But what is self-care? Self-care has become a trendy term that is thrown around all the time. Many people believe that self-care includes getting pedicures, manicures, hot baths, massages and facials. All of these things are nice and who doesn’t want to be pampered? However, is that really self-care?

 The things listed above can be included in self-care but I think that self-care is much deeper than that. Self-care includes taking care of our mental, emotional and physical self. Things like planning, making budgets and living within our means are included in self-care. I believe that we also need to include things like journaling, getting enough sleep, drinking water, listening to music that we enjoy, exercise and going outside in our self-care toolbox. Self-care should be something that you plan on doing for yourself because you enjoy it. Self-care should not be another box to check off the to do list. It is important to note that self-care is not being selfish. In her article, This is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths and Chocolate Cake, Brianna Wiest states “True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from”. 

Setting the goal of incorporating self-care into our lives can start out small. We do not have to make large changes in our lives to get benefits from those changes. Try adding one new self-care skill to your day and practice this for a week, then try adding another small self-care skill to your week.


Tiffany Hayner, LMSW