While vacations, massages, and manicures can all be parts of self-care, if we limit our definition of self-care to the “treat yourself” items, it’ll feel out of reach or unsustainable.
Let’s expand how we define self-care. It’s personal, it’s dynamic, and it can be small!
Personal: your self-care will look different from mine. Ask yourself, what makes me feel refreshed? What protects or restores my energy or wellness? What brings me joy right now, or what used to bring me joy? Hint: sometimes we need to consider how we’ll feel after a task, not just during.
Dynamic: self-care looks different in different periods of life. Ask yourself, what fits into my life? What is financially doable? With my current roles and responsibilities, how can I incorporate in a new way something that I used to do for self-care?
Small: sustainable self-care is the little things that you build into your existing routines. Ask yourself, what will I actually do? How can I remind myself to do it? Where can I put it on my schedule for today or this week?
A self-care habit could be sitting outside for five minutes, inhaling and slowly exhaling ten breaths, spending an extra thirty seconds savoring whatever the best part of your day is, taking your medications as prescribed, putting your phone in a separate room for an hour each day, going to therapy regularly, or standing for at least a minute out of every hour you’re sitting. Or it could be something else for you—it looks different for everyone in every season.
What would it feel like to choose one small thing to do today to care for yourself?
You don’t have to plan something radical or lavish to take care of yourself. Self-care will not fix everything, but it is a small step towards tending to yourself in this life that leaves none of us unscathed. And maybe that is radical.
- Megan 🤍
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