One Hour 2: Self Care
A few weeks ago we talked about making one hour a day for your dreams. Today we’re going to flip the script and talk about forcing yourself to make the time to relax. Let’s talk about self care.
The Other One Hour
While some people struggle to make time for their dreams and goals, others struggle to make time for themselves. Today we’re going to discuss the latter. This is for those of you who have a hard time unplugging and taking the time to relax. Whether it’s due to an overwhelming workload that never seems to let up, a personal sense of “I’m not done until it’s all done,” (and we’ll address that next week) or simply forgetting, we need to talk about self care and how it impacts you.
I’d be the last person to tell you that working hard is bad for you. Sacrifice and effort in the name of a goal is what will get you over the finish line more often than any amount of luck or happenstance. There is a limit, however. If you are burned out, exhausted, or even just frustrated, your performance suffers. Which means your goals suffer. Even if you get “more done” due to neglecting yourself, it’s not going to be quality work. You’re either going to have sub-standard quality, or you’re going to have to take extra time to go back and do it again later. Which at best means wasted time, but likely also means added stress.
No job, project, or achievement is worth sacrificing your health and livelihood for. This is of a course a grey area. Sometimes you need to stay up all night to meet a deadline or complete a crucial area of something. That’s calculated sacrifice, and that’s not what I’m talking about.
If you are consistently neglecting your health, mental or physical, then you are not allowing yourself proper self care.
Proper Self Care
I can’t tell you what the proper self care is for you. Some people enjoy time alone, others with their family and friends. Some people enjoy reading, others time out in nature. You need to find what works for you, what helps you rest and recover. If you don’t know what that is yet, don’t worry. Maybe all you need is to actually sit down and not do ANYTHING for a while each day.
The point is to find what works for you, and to be sure you devote that one hour a day to it. To make sure that regardless of how hard you work, you take this time for yourself.
A final note on types of self care: avoid temporary fixes such as chemically addictive substances or destructive behavior. While you may get a brief high from these things, they will always exact a much steeper price from you in the long run. Self care means just that: taking care of yourself.
What Is Your Self Care?
As always, I want to hear from all of you. Tell us about your self care habits. Your methods just might help someone else take care of themselves better.