I have a feeling that people think I am a little bit crazy to promote and be so passionate about self-care. Yes, self-care is nice but is it really something to be so passionate about? The thing is, I have done a lot of work around self-care and mental health to try to combat my depression. I have first hand seen how self-care effects my life and the life of people around me when I am diligent and intentional about self-care, and when I am not. So yes, you can call me crazy, but I am very passionate about self-care because I have seen the importance of it in my own life.
My blog post prior to this broke down what exactly self-care is and how it is really broken down into different categories. If you didn’t catch it, check it out here! I think it’s easy to see why self-care is so important once you realize what exactly self-care is. Self-care can affect your mental health and your physical health. It can affect the relationships around you and within. So really, self-care affects a lot of your life, whether you are doing it or not. Below are the reasons I believe that self-care is so important:
Reduces Stress
Practicing self-care can dramatically reduce stress levels in your life. Stress is unavoidable and in this day and age, it is almost glorified. Intentional and spontaneous self-care can really help with stress management. I am very intentional with my self-care and this allows me to reduce potential stress in the future. For example, spending an hour on Sunday meal prepping my lunches for the week will significantly reduce my stress during the week. While intentional self-care can be so great to reduce stress, you can’t always avoid it. This is where spontaneous self-care comes in! I know when I get stressed in the moment, I get really frazzled. When this happens, if I continue to just keep going, I’ll get even more frazzled and then end up making stupid mistakes. If I take twenty minutes to meditate, go for a walk, talk to my husband, or do whatever I need in the moment, I typically come back refreshed and ready to calmly handle the tasks I need to get done.
Creates Balance In Life
One of the best ways to create balance in your life is to incorporate self-care into your everyday routine. Everyone is talking about hustling and it has become very attractive to be a “hustler” or a “boss babe.” And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, it give the impression you have to be working all the time. In reality, if you don’t slow down every once in a while, you’ll burn out and be further from your goal. No one can work 24/7 without burn out. Intentionally practicing self-care gives you much needed rest time and a way to rejuvenate your mind and body to tackle the things you really want.
Better Mental Health
It’s no surprise that self-care can better your mental health. Since self-care is all about doing things that better your life, it is always effecting your mental health. There are the obvious things like seeing a therapist, going to meetings, talking with friends, and so on. But things like working out, eating the proper amount of meals a day, saying no to things you don’t want to do, and so many others positively affect your mental health as well. There are always going to be things in life that we do not want to do and might negatively affect our mental health. Self-care can help battle the things that negatively affect us and keep our mindset positive.
Healthier Relationships
Sometimes our relationships hit hard patches. This can be with friends, family, spouses, co-workers, children, and even ourselves. Sometimes the hard truth is that sometimes those relationships suffer because of ourselves and not the other person. Sometimes we have been giving too much and we have nothing left to give. One of my favorite quotes is, “You cannot pour from an empty cup.” It is absolutely true. Wen you aren’t taking care of yourself, you have nothing left to give into other relationships. I can admit that some of my arguments with my husband have been because of my toxic attitude that came from not taking care of myself. I can also admit, when my depression gets bad, it’s typically because I have gone too long without taking care of myself which starts a cycle of self-hatred that I have to pull myself out of. My depression is a very big reason why I make sure I take time for self-care.
Understanding Yourself Better
My self development journey has really helped me to understand myself better. I think that understanding yourself better is really a spin off of having a better relationship with yourself but also a little bit different. When you practice self-care you start to understand what you need and in what moments you need self-care the most. For me, I know when I start to get stressed I need to do something or my mind will wander to every single stressful situation I could possibly think of. When you understand yourself better, you understand when you need to make shifts in your life to keep your life propelling forward.
While I don’t think you will find a lot of people out there that will argue and say self-care is not important, I don’t think that many people realize just how important it is and how it can affect your life. When you don’t take care of yourself, it shows. When you do take care of yourself, it shows. This is why I feel so passionate about self care. I would rather take the time to take care of myself and better my life, than have to continuously rebuild my life.