{ Self-Care }

What is Self-Care?

Often it is seen as a Sunday evening bubble bath. Going to the salon on a Saturday after hot yoga and brunch with friends. Watching your favorite show with a sweet treat or beverage while lounging on the couch after a long day at work avoiding work emails. Cleaning the house…tomorrow. It is a weekend away boating with friends and family. It’s all those things we do to break from dealing with life’s stressors.

Self-care, however, isn’t the pretty, relaxing, fun filled pleasures that society has made it out to be. True self-care is the dirty work you should be doing day in and day out:

It’s balancing your checkbook, and having daily/weekly/monthly/yearly financial plans.

It’s making time for workouts to feel, breathe, and move better.

It’s ending relationships (in real life or online) with people who drain the life out of you –even family members and longtime friends.

It’s writing, reading, learning, observing, and listening instead of dismissing, forgetting, avoiding, judging, and speaking.

It’s drinking a gallon of water a day and sleeping 8+ hours a night.

It’s cooking dinner for yourself instead of running through the drive thru.

It’s being honest with yourself about the true nature of your character.

It’s facing the bullshit stories you’ve been telling yourself for so long, and doing something to change them.

It’s saying no to the things you want right now, in other to do the things you’ve been dreaming about for years.

It’s reevaluating your goals –are they your goals, someone else’s, or society’s status quo? Are they still even goals? Are you doing them for you or for your reputation?

It’s doing the good deeds, charity work, or volunteering without seeking public praise and gloating.

It’s waking up with gratitude for the opportunity to experience another day.

It’s quitting an unfulfilling job, and starting something that brings you joy even though it may be less money.

It’s creating a life where you don’t feel you need to hit the pause button.

It’s loving yourself completely, especially the messy, ugly, broken, hard to manage parts.

It’s realizing their life isn’t better than yours, and yours isn’t better than theirs….it’s just different.

While many see self-care as the consumer driven –buy this, go there, life hacks, etc.– detox from daily life, ultimately it is the complete opposite. Create a daily life of love, digital disconnection, hard work, focus, healthy choices for your mind, body, and spirit, and you’ll see how many of life’s problems and stressors fade away leaving you with a world you never need to escape from. Allowing time for activities to experience life instead of running from it.

Doing the hard work is often times the best work you’ll ever do.

I wise man once said “When I work on me, everyone else gets better.” Actually EVERYTHING gets better.

Cheers! ✌💛

Katie