Let’s talk about self care- introduction

We are biological beings. At a basic level everybody knows that for a plant to flourish it needs water, nutrient rich soil, air and sunshine.

Human beings aren’t that different. To thrive and avoid disease we need at minimum a healthy diet, exercise, fresh air and like our chlorophyll infused friends- sunshine. It seems obvious, doesn’t it? When we are hungry, we should eat. When we are tired, we should rest.

Yet, for many in my practice, meeting these basic biological needs seems like an indulgence. An unobtainable luxury.

Success is often driven by grit, determination and a high threshold for personal discomfort. So, the entrepreneur working through his lunch break is just giving it all he has got. To find purpose in serving is altruistic, meaningful and noble. Thus a mother can find herself running around so much she doesn’t have time to pee, because she is caring for her family.

Is it a wonder that we get stressed, burnt out and overwhelmed?

By the time illness takes hold it is very hard to put self care practises into place. A depressed person struggles to get out of bed- exercising seems impossible. For an mother suffering with organisational problems remembering to pick the kids up from school is a win, remembering to buy veggies might fall by the wayside.

I do not want to use these blogs to make a list of what you should do. You probably too busy to read it all, or worse will feel overwhelmed by everything you “should” be doing. What I would like to do over the next few weeks is tease out specific aspects of self care and then start a conversation around them; using anecdotes from my practice, my life and science.

Self care in today’s overstimulated, demanding world is hard. It does not automatically happen. Self care requires thought, intention and deliberate action.