Self-care

How is your self-care these days?  Are you doing things you need to do for YOU?  Are you taking care of yourself?

Considering that I am not only a Life Coach, but that I also present self-care workshops, one would think that I do pretty well with my own self-care.  And there are long periods of my life where I would be able to truthfully say ‘My self-care is very important to me, and I am doing just fine.’  However, even people who know how important self-care is sometimes let things slip through the cracks a little on this issue.  It is so easy to get pulled into the ‘no time right now, have to help these guys out, someone needs me’ trap and forget that if you don’t take care of yourself, you eventually will run out of the resources you need to help others.

I don’t know who came up with this metaphor, but I thank them for it – it’s one of my favorites.  Remember the talk the airline attendents give before the flight?  If the oxygen bags drop down, be sure to put yours on first, before helping anyone else, including kids or the elderly,put theirs on. You are no use to anyone else if you are passed out because of lack of oxygen!

Self-care is putting your oxygen mask on first; it’s filling up your tank first.  If you deplete your resources helping everyone else, eventually you will be unable to help yourself OR anyone else. If you practice exquisite self-care, you will have the resources to help other.

I let my self-care slip by the wayside a little recently.  But I caught myself, and am making self-care a priority again.  It doesn’t have to be big, or expensive, or time-consuming; it just has to happen.

Exactly what is good self-care?  Well, that sounds like another blog post to me.  But before I write it, I would be interested in knowing what good self-care is for you.  Please let me know….

4 comments to Self-care

  • Max Baldonado

    Thanks Judy…this is such an important topic for me.

  • Nancy

    I do lots of self care, but find that it’s only the “essential” self care that I get done (like exercise, eating well, taking my supplements) and that there are many other things that I somehow put on the “non-essential” list, like writing, working on my business, meditation… But my soul needs that nourishment too.
    It’s been suggested that I need to schedule time for those creative activities, but I haven’t had time to do that…

    • Judy Stoffel Loewen

      ‘Essential’ self-care is a great start, but don’t give up there. Scheduling is something that might help, and remember that it is a myth that great self-care has to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time. Also remember that making yourself feel bad about not doing self-care is NOT self-care either!

      I think self-care has a lot to do with intent and being present. Essential self-care can turn into exquisite self-care if you set the intention and are totally present while doing it. Also please remember that self-care is so personal – what could be exquisite self-care to one person could be pure torture to another – find what floats your boat and gives your peace, and forget about what anyone else thinks!

      Thaks for reading and commenting!

  • […] you want to read more on self-care, check out my previous post on it. March 12th, 2012 | Tags: choice, self-care | Category: Random coaching […]

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