5622002520.8dd5717.6ec7c371abf4418cae502628be3db85b

Self Care

SELF CARE IS IMPORTANT. SELF CARE IS NOT SELFISH. SELF CARE IS NECESSARY. For the longest time, I struggled with this. It can be hard to make an effort to take care of yourself when you want to make sure those around you are doing alright. Think about all of the effort and love you put into making sure your family members, friends, significant others, coworkers, or whoever are doing well and are happy. Are you putting that much effort into making sure you’re good or loving yourself the way you love those around you? Probably not. If you are, then you’re killing it and go you (but really, you rock).

“Before you assist others, always put your oxygen mask on first”. I used to think that was silly. I used to think put mine on first? I’ll be okay, let me make sure the people around me are covered because I know I’ll be alright. I’ll get to mine after.

Even though this is just the repetitive safety announcement you hear before taking off the runway, it applies to real life. You can’t help other people if you aren’t helping yourself first. This doesn’t mean never look after those around you or only watch out for yourself, but check in on yourself. It can be easy to continue to help people because we are able, then a week later we realized our calendars are booked for the next month with no time to spare for ourselves. The reality is that eventually we will be running on E…empty…nothing and that just isn’t healthy. It’s important to understand that looking after ourselves isn’t an act of selfishness, it’s a necessity to live full lives.Self care also doesn’t have to be a big event. It’s a very personalized thing. We often see self care for women advertised as going to a nail salon, getting our hair done, doing masks or going on vacations. And for some of us, it is just that…some pampering to reset ourselves. Self care can be anything that contributes to your overall well-being. For some people it might be smaller things like taking a walk, doing some coloring, reading, exercising, or even just taking some time to breathe. Sometimes self care doesn’t always look the same on certain days. For me, sometimes my self care is doing a face mask, watching a movie I’ve been dying to see, or getting outside in nature, but other times it is waking up ten minutes early to relax, playing some of my favorite music, or calling a friend to catch up. So I challenge you to start making time for yourself, find what self care means for you, and make an effort to implement it into your life.

Kaitlyn Kimball
Epoch Women Author

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *