With the combo of the presidential election and the start of holiday season on the horizon, now more than ever is a good time to take the concept of self care seriously.
Self care has become a buzzword in the last few years that often gets associated with doing yoga, taking a bath, or lighting candles. Often the deeper purposes of self care—being a crucial part of maintaining your mental health and overall wellbeing—get glossed over.
The National Institutes of Health defines self care as, “the ability to care for oneself through awareness, self-control, and self-reliance in order to achieve, maintain, or promote optimal health and well-being.”
The end of the year is a time when elevated emotional responses and experiences of anxiety can skyrocket, in large part due to the amount of anticipation that builds as we get closer to certain dates (Who is going to win the presidential election? How will I navigate my in-laws during Thanksgiving?).
This stress often results in people living with a constantly dysregulated nervous system, which unfortunately makes the impact of already hard events feel even harder.
Cultivating small acts of self care daily not only helps make this stressful time feel more manageable, it is an essential part of maintaining health levels of wellbeing.
I hear two main areas of pushback against self care: people feeling like they do not have time for it or feeling that it is selfish.
The reality of self care is actually quite the opposite. It can be as little as five minutes of your time a day, and that the impact of doing something for yourself allows you to show up for others in a more supportive way.
I am a therapist and a mother to two small children. It is crucial that I am in a good place mentally or I cannot do either of these jobs well.
As much as I’d love to work out an hour a day, or go to the beach every weekend, my life is in a busy season. Right now my self care is a commitment to spending ten minutes every morning in the backyard with coffee, alone.
This ritual is something that grounds me and allows me to set an intention for my day. It helps me be a more patient parent and present counselor. As I start to find my anxiety spiking as I think about the weeks ahead, it gives me space to practice deep breathing and come back to the moment at hand.
The ability to access an internal sense of ease and calm is a life changing skill, and helps make the harder seasons of life much more accessible.
