The Importance of Self-Care

Self-care is very important to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it boosts your self-esteem and confidence. It also produces positive feelings. It is necessary to remind yourself and others that you and your needs are important. Most people have many responsibilities in life that they forget to take care of their personal needs. This is true for mothers, who have many responsibilities, but some do not have a monopoly on letting life get in the way of taking care of themselves. Self-care is not about your mental health only but also about caring for your physical well-being, by eating healthy, having adequate sleep, caring about your hygiene and exercising regularly.

Contrary to common belief, being workaholic is not a virtue. Overwork, and the accompanying stress and exhaustion can make you less productive, disorganized and emotionally depleted. It can also lead to all sorts of health problems, from anxiety and depression to insomnia and heart diseases. It is very hard to prioritize something like taking a bath when you have so many other things to do in life. Trust me I’ve been there.  I have taken a quick shower because I feel like I must rush to do something else. Self-care is a very important aspect of stress management. Self-care affects your physical health while self-pampering doesn’t always yield to major improvements in your overall health the way healthy diet and exercise do. The relaxation you get from it can trigger the relaxation response, which can prevent chronic stress from damaging your health. So, in a sense, self-care is good for you inside and out.

Self-care is an effective way to manage stress. Here are some of the importance of self-care.

• Self-care gives you a break from stress. Take a break in a tub of warm bubbles or under the warm hands of an experienced masseuse, this can help you feel like you’re escaping a stressful reality and taking a mental and emotional vacation.
• Self-care triggers the relaxation response and allows you to come back to the reality of your life feeling refreshed and relaxed.
• Self-care also gives you time alone to manage yourself while different people have varying degrees of introversion and extroversion. Try to have some time alone as it is important for most people’s functioning. When you’re relax by yourself, it’s much easier to slip into a state of quiet meditation, enjoy some self-reflection, or let your problems work themselves out in the back of your mind, without taking all your focused concentration.

Self-care is giving your body some special treatment and is a natural way to relieve stress. Other than keeping your skin soft and your body in good repair, spa-related activities like massage and warm baths have been known to soothe even small colicky babies like nothing else. Such activities continue to be effective tools for relaxation as we get older, but we sometimes forget to utilize them. Once you’ve decided its time to start nurturing yourself and your body, be sure to block off some time for this. Try to schedule a block where you won’t be interrupted. You need only to have a bathroom to give yourself a home-spa experience; you can put on some soothing music and try some or all of the following self-care strategies. Trust me its worth it to have that time to yourself even if it is for a short amount of time.

For my birthday over the weekend my husband took me to a spa and getting a massage and relaxing was so therapeutic.  Sometimes, at home I would stress out when my name was called every 5 minutes and I couldn’t get anything done.  Now I realize that, for me to be my best self for my family I need my “me time.”  My husband and even my kids get time to themselves; so why should I be exempt? Right, I should not be. Now when my name is called, I let everyone know I will be taking a bath for about 30 minutes and to play in their rooms.

Lastly, I learned not to feel guilty for wanting my self-care.  I know it is important and needed for everyone.  Sometimes even walking to the mailbox by myself gives me a sense of relief.  We all love our families and we always put them first but sometimes we need a reminder that it is OK to put ourselves first too sometimes.

XOXO