It's all over Instagram, you've probably seen your favourite YouTuber preaching about it, and definitely seen Snapchats of friends with face masks on.
All of this hype had me wondering, what exactly is "Self-Care"? And why is it such a big deal?
I decided to take a look, and here is what I found...
According to PsychCentral, "Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Although it's a simple concept in theory, it's something we very often overlook."
Talk about a simple concept...
Simple Concept
I was trying explain "self-care" to my Oma on Facetime this week, and it was so difficult. She grew up in an age where it was normal to get enough sleep, participate in activities you enjoy, and spend time relaxing. Imagine trying to explain self-care to your grand-parents - it's harder than it seems!
Essentially, self-care means taking good care of your health. It doesn't need to be face masks, movies, or fancy gym classes. It means making time to relax and do things you enjoy.
Whether that is getting a good night sleep, watching movies, or going out with friends, it means taking a break. We aren't meant to be working constantly. Breaks help us breathe, de-compress, and allow us to work with more focus and efficiency when we do sit down to work.
In today's day and age, we are so stressed and anxious constantly that I think the self-care trend is a good thing. I wish we didn't work ourselves so hard that we had to remind ourselves to take breaks and relax, but this is the world we are in - and I am guilty of it too.
#selfcare FOMO
When I first started seeing #selfcaresunday posts, I felt like I was missing out by not participating. I felt like I NEEDED to participate in this trend.
Some weeks, it felt like I was dropping the ball by not having enough time to participate in said afore-mentioned "relaxing" activities. It felt like #selfcaresunday was another thing to add to my to-do list.
If you've ever felt this way, I want to make it very clear that you should not feel like you're missing out if you're not doing face masks or Hallmark movie nights. That is the nature of the beast social media has created, but it is not good or healthy.
Although these activities are fun to do, you should not be doing them to get a cute picture or story out of it. I know the internal sense of pressure to capture the moment and share a cute picture. I think it is a a side-effect of growing up in a social-media world, and honestly, I don't know if that will go away. What I do know, is that self-care is not something you do to impress others.
Self-care is for YOU, and nobody else. As I like to say, you can't take care of business until you take care of yourself first. You should feel less stressed by the thought of self-care, not more!
Wrapping Up
I have a tendency to work very hard and find it difficult to take breaks. I have been trying to "do" a self-care night every week for the past few weeks, and I have to admit, it has been fun jumping on the self-care bandwagon! I have watched a bunch of cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and have fallen in love with my vanilla chai sugar scrub.
So, if classifying fun activities as "self-care" will help you do them, then I'm all for it! Never mind Self-care Sunday, let's have self-care every day! Make time to sleep, sweat, and smile every day. Take breaks from your work; you deserve it.
Sidenote: If you're in Kingston and looking for some self-care inspo, check out Sunday Scrubs. My friends started the company and I am obsessed with their handmade scrubs! Seriously, my skin is sooo soft for days after I use a scrub...
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