Most of us know what it is, yet we are challenged with prioritizing the practice.
What self-care is?
Self-Care is a word often expressed by therapist and healers. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider." American Psychological Association (APA) defines self-care as “providing adequate attention to one’s own physical and psychological wellness.” In practice self-care are the ways we tend to our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental needs BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER the utilization of our energy.
What happens to us when we do not prioritize our self-care practices?
You may have heard this phenomenon expressed in many ways, (i.e. the empty bucket, emotional or compassion fatigue, burnout). What all these examples illustrate is when there is not a daily recovery practice we decrease our physical and psychological wellness. At first ignoring those self-care practices may not show immediate signs of change, but over days, we drastically may shift our health baseline. This in turn makes us more susceptible to physical or mental challenges, compromising our values, and feeling estranged with ourselves.
What to do about it?
Fortunately regardless of what you may be experiencing you can offset and stabilize to a manageable health baseline by creating your own daily practices. Prioritizing your self-care can be simple acts throughout the day.