[2020-12-27] Self-care

With many holiday get-togethers behind us, today was a good day for self-care. For me, that took the form of naps in the morning and afternoon. For others with whom I chatted today, self-care included reading a book, finding hidden treasures in drawers, and tidying up a room.

As inspiration for today's post, I read an interesting article about self-care: What Self-Care Is—and What It Isn't. The article answers these questions as follows:

Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.... It is not something that we force ourselves to do, or something we don’t enjoy doing.

The article provides a helpful checklist of activities that should be on everyone's self-care list:
  • Create a "no" list, such as not answering the telephone while eating dinner. I call this My to-don't list.
  • Eat a healthy diet. Here's what I wrote on Eating and cancer.
  • Get enough sleep—7-8 hours per night. You might take inspiration from Sleep, More on sleep and The Sleep Solution.
  • Exercise, choosing a form of exercise that you love, as I shared in my post on Exercise.
  • Seek medical care. As the article notes, "It is not unusual to put off checkups or visits to the doctor." Although going to a healthcare professional might feel like something we have to force ourselves to do, my own experience (as shared in First day of health leave) should serve as a cautionary tale that we shouldn't put off seeking medical care.
  • Use relaxation techniques or meditate. Read more in Meditation and voluntary simplicity.
  • Spend time with loved ones, as I discussed in my post on Time.
  • Do at least one relaxing and one pleasurable activity every day, such as walking in a forest, sitting outside or petting a puppy. For more inspiration, read The little things.
  • Laugh, as I did in this post on Laughter.
The article concludes by saying that "self-care takes practice." I would add that self-care takes time. As the saying goes, if you don't make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.