Self Care...my first attempt at a blog!

Self Care

Self Care.  Two simple words that mean a lot, that matter and yet most of us never take the time to practice it.

This blog goes hand in hand with another blog (Pam K) about needing that "carrot" to keep us motivated and keep us going.  Self care is extremely important, especially in our line of work.  We care for people.  And I'm not just referring to the physical stuff, which some days is all we feel like we are doing.  But we are the emotional support for the people we support.  We are there to help the people we care for when they are sad, angry, hurt, disappointed, scared, happy (the list is endless) and this is done without a second thought, without the expectation of getting anything in return.  We work in a field that makes us givers, we give even when we know we have nothing left to save for ourselves and we come back and do it all over the following day/shift.  We give knowing many times we will never get a thank you, that we are in a position where we will never get that gift reciprocated and we are okay with that.  But what do you do when you have nothing left to give and you still have to keep giving? You hit burnout.

Self care is imperative to us being able to do our job and being able to have healthy relationships with everyone else involved in our lives outside of the job.  So why is it so hard to do? Why is it we are not all professionals at self care as well as the care of others?  It's because we are taught that self care is selfish, that it is wrong to take care of ourselves, to spend time on ourselves.  We are told that it is materialistic to go spend money on ourselves, to treat ourselves to something as simple as a new piece of clothing, a pedicure, a nice meal out.  Self care can be taking a bubble bath, reading a book, going for a walk.  It can be exercising, going out for a coffee with a friend, having a glass of wine.  Self care can even simply be saying "NO" if you are overworked, overwhelmed and simply do not have the time or the desire to put one more thing on your plate.  If we are parents on top of being caregivers its even more selfish to spend money on you when you have kids that may or may not need something. 

I used to be extremely guilty of self neglect.  I still can be if i am not careful, and get busy with life and fall back into old habits, which I almost did this weekend but I reminded myself that I am worth it and I deserve to go shopping without guilt and treat myself to new things.  Self care is necessary if we are going to be able to do our jobs to the best of our ability.  If we are stressed, over whelmed, run down then it will show.  The people we support are more sensitive to outside influences such as a staff's mood than most people are.  We need to make sure that we are in the most optimum health and mindset so that we can support and care for people, all the people in our lives to the best of our abilities.

So I dare you, take time for yourself without guilt.  Buy that dress, have that meal out, take an hour and do nothing.  Read that book, enjoy the company you have over, leave the house cleaning for a bit.   Things can wait for you to take some time and pamper yourself.  Reward yourself for making it through the day.  You deserve it, without guilt, without feeling selfish.  And learn the power of the word NO.  It will release you like no other word can.

This is a repost from one of my first blogs I did for a college class.  I felt it was time to put these out into the world.