Why is Self Care important? By Andrea White
Last week I looked at what self care is.. Today I want to elaborate why it is important in our lives for our personal wellness and that of the people around us.
We need Self Care-
To take responsibility
Self Care is a deliberate act.. it is a choice. The survival kind of self care- eating a balanced diet, going to the dentist, exercising the body is about taking responsibility and ownership of our beautiful bodies. If we don’t, we end up in a culture of blame, denial, ill health and expecting others to fix us, or worse we busy our heads in the sand and ignore the realities of life and world.. (just think about climate change deniers)
We do not live in Isolatio
If we don’t look after ourselves, how can we help others? We do not live in isolation of others.. Even monks live in communities! In our everyday life, at work, parents, siblings, children, friends, we need to show up and be decent human beings. It always starts with us. How can we care for others if we are not looking after ourselves? Do you want to be led by a burnt-out yoga teacher preaching about balance?
We need to break the culture of busy!
Do we want to perpetuate this culture of busyness to our children?, trying to do it all is exhausting and unrealistic? Just when we think we have a handle on it something gets thrown in our path! Culturally the world has glamourised busy, productivity is a measure of success. This leads many of us to fall ill from exhaustion or suffer from anxiety and depression when we are not keeping up.
The children are watching
Following on from breaking the culture of busy. I feel it is my duty as a mum to look after myself not just for my sake (which is essential) , but for my daughter’s. Even at 2 (now 4) my little one would model my actions, I would see her acting and role playing ‘mummy’. My heart still warms when she gets out the yoga mats and cushions and ‘does her yoga’.(this week she led me in a class!) I want her to grow up looking after and celebrating her body, knowing herself and loving herself with compassion, kindness and awareness. This isn't just about parenting, it is showing your best self to your colleagues, your families, people on the street.. radiance and compassion is contagious.
The pressure is universal
Both men, women and children alike suffer. Women suffer from trying to balance, work, family, motherhood, home life along with pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, whilst also being soft and feminine. While men suffer due to cultural expectations on them to always be strong and provide, fatherhood, social constructs of masculinity. The children suffer from modelling their parents or trying to live up to harsh expectations society put on them.
We need more resilience, and compassion and awareness
When we nurture ourselves, we start to understand ourselves so much deeper, we learn to cultivate resilience, strength, compassion and awareness, not only for ourselves but to teach this to our children, community, our world and environment.
“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” Dalai Lama
(this Article was edited from Dec 2019)