Before COVID, the idea of “self care” seemed like a luxury or some kind of indulgence. “Who has time for that,” we’d think, or, “How much will that cost me,” or, “What even IS ‘self care,’” right? Oh, how nice those innocent days were.
COVID has made it VERY clear that self care isn’t some mystical thing only reserved for the rich, or people who have a ton of free time. IT IS A REQUIREMENT! With everything that is going on in the world since the beginning of this pandemic, it’s impossible to expect that we can manage all this without self care. If you already have a good self care practice, that’s amazing! I encourage you to look at this as a great time to level up your self care plan.
If you don’t have a strategy to take care of yourself, TODAY is a great day to start. Believe me, you HAVE TIME, and IT’S WORTH IT. It is actually the key to helping you through this pandemic.
WHAT IS SELF CARE? To improve your relationship with self care you need to first really understand what it is.
“Self care” refers to any activity that you do to support the health of your emotional, mental, and physical being.
That includes developing a consistent sleep and waking time, eating nutritious meals, reading or listening to personal development tools, watching inspirational videos, decluttering your space, making time for relaxing activities, and so much more.
In the upcoming weeks we will focus on changing or improving your self care plan. What will improving your self care plan do for you? Having a plan to improve your overall health is crucial for building your resilience. When I say ‘resilience,’ I’m referring to your ability to successfully adapt to threats or adversity, or in this instance more specifically, your ability to adapt to COVID successfully. (COVID definitely qualifies as adverse or threatening.)
Resilience truly depends on THREE factors:
How much and how often you experience stress,
how often you practice self care,
and how self-compassionate you are.
To help you evaluate where you currently are with your self care practice I have added a worksheet at the bottom of the blog for you to complete. Taking this evaluation should give you an idea of where you currently stand in regards to your self care and possibly shine light on some areas that need your attention.
But wait, there’s one IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I can share this info with you, but that isn’t enough. YOU- and you alone- have to choose to make this a priority. It boils down to a simple fact: if you want to experience a different outcome, you need to make different decisions! So I’m here to encourage you to start making different decisions surrounding your self care.
EVALUATE YOUR SELF CARE STATE
The attached evaluation is intended to create a baseline for you to determine how much time you currently spend on your self care. We need to focus on strengthening our self care strategies to help strengthen our resilience against all the effects of COVID.
Please note, this is not a place to judge or criticize yourself. Leave those toxic thoughts at the door. This is an opportunity for you to dig deep and take control. We all know COVID is here, we can’t change that. What we can change is how we adapt. In the coming weeks I will be diving deeper into the different areas of self care and by the end you will have your own personal self care plan, so STAY TUNED!
TAKE ACTION TODAY There is never going to be a good time to deal with unpleasant emotions, and the more we put things off the longer we prolong our unpleasant experience. If you are ready to do what you can to change how you experience life with COVID, then take action NOW! You are the boss of your own experience! It’s not about moving mountains. Focus on one small step at a time to get to your goal. The best way to start is right here and now, by filling in the worksheet below.