We are pleased that the concept of self-care has become so trendy in recent years. Knowing the benefits of self-care methods such as mindfulness, which some consider to be ineffective or the benefits of self care as a whole, even though some cynics simply state that selfcare is selfish can be very transformative. This is a crucial reminder for me as a woman since I’m quick to criticize myself if I take time away from my career, that event that I promised to attend, family or everything else to focus on my needs (and I know I’m not alone!). But somehow I wonder now: if I’m not full, how can I pour into others? Let’s see if self-care is the best therapy and what self-care therapeutic techniques we can apply in our lives.
Some may object, but we know deep down that we cannot function optimally if we are not at our best. You may have tried one or two selfcare activities and given up before you allow yourself the comfort of enjoying it guiltfree :): Don’t worry, though! Self-care is about not only doing what you enjoy, compassion and self awareness. Some have said that selfcare can be a form of therapy for them and we thought to answer the question- can selfcare be therapeutic and if yes, is this the best therapy? Here’s what we think.
Overview
- Burnout Antidote: Is Self-Care the Best Therapy?
- Improve Your Professional Life with Self-Care
- Self Care leads to Better Parenting and Familial Relationships
- Self Care + Romance
1. Burnout Antidote: Is Self-Care the Best Therapy?
What exactly is burnout? Most people associate the phrase with being tired and overworked. Consider Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns. You looked amazing in that latex catsuit! She was always late for work and felt underappreciated and unappreciated. She disliked her job. Despite this, she couldn’t stop working, and her hair was a disaster—a textbook case of burnout! (without having to verbally label it).
Burnout is a level of depletion that goes beyond typical fatigue. Burnout is characterized by emotional, physical, and mental tiredness. Taking a nap will not ease the problem.
Burnout can raise our risk of panic attacks, anxiety, harm our physical health and result in other mental health concerns. Furthermore, it can jeopardize our ties with our friends and family. So it’s no surprise that one of the primary benefits of self-care is the prevention of burnout, which may in turn prevent these additional complications and does help you cope with the stress factors of adulthood without the downsides. Self-care may just be the best therapy for burnout.
2. Improve Your Professional Life With Self-Care
Even on the job, a strong self-care practice can help us live our best lives and show us how to cope with stress! Our thoughts work better when we have enough self-love to look out for our well-being. We are more productive when our minds function better. Without caffeine!
Some people define self-care as a focus on their physical well-being. For example, you may concentrate on obtaining 8 hours of sleep every night or eating meals at the right time.
Assume you have to dash to work in the morning without eating or constantly eating processed foods first thing in the morning. We don’t have to say how harmful this can be not only to your health long term but also the immediate effects of harming your productivity. It is no fun to be hungry and working- or working “hangrily”. Take a moment to wake up 15 minutes earlier to eat or pack up something healthy to munch on for the road. Or where the concern is anxiety at your boss or a meeting or colleague, take a 5 minute break to take deep breaths in before the meeting. It helps to take 6 deep breaths, practicing the 4-6-7 seconds counts before you have to face the triggering event or person.
Another great way selfcare helps is teaching you how to set some professional boundaries. Overworking is a common topic of conversation among our customers in their working lives. If a person works 50, 60, or even 70 hours a week, it isn’t easy to maintain a balanced life with time to nurture other good habits. Self-care will bring your into a state of more awareness of your “self” and help you recognize that you are not “superwoman” or “superman” and that in order to save your job, you have to make room to allow rest and calm in your mental state to help you come up with better creative solutions to your work challenges. You need to fill up to fill others!
When these little behaviors are tallied up and you set self care practices that help you overcome them, your life can be hugely different in a few months time- not only will be be working in an optimized manner with your creative juices flowing but you will get along better with your coworkers, employers, and clients. Also, people may soon begin to notice that there’s something different about you – that you enjoy work now.
3. Self-Care Leads To Better Parenting And Familial Relationships
Self-care will help you become a better mom, dad, son, or daughter. Do you recall what it was like as a youngster in your house when your mother was upset or in a bad mood? Certainly, in mine, it may result in a harsh tone – that tone that you know so well as the tone for “you are in troubleeeee”. Self care is certainly not practiced as openly as it is now. In fact, back in the days, it was commended when you worked yourself to an early grave. Hard-work was the mantra and so it is no surprise that our parents were mostly burnt out but not publicly announcing it.
The good news now is that selfcare is acceptable. Women now recognize that there is the need to take care of ourselves and this can be a good example to set for our children. Youngsters will practice self-love if they observe their parents doing so. Therefore, yes though it may be the last thing you want to do mentally. By committing to an evening stroll with your family (just like I did with my father) is not only therapeutic to release the work stress of the day, the traffic stress of the day, the partner stress of the day and every other stress factors in your life; guess what, it is also a wonderful way to remind your kids and set great models for your children. It serves as a great family time too.
4. Self-Care + Romance
If you are in a relationship, you understand how wonderful and challenging these relationships are. Expressing love for someone is a vulnerable experience through our words and deeds.
What can we offer one another? Self-care and self-love is like tending to our garden. We preserve the blooms and attempt to cut out pests. “But, we will have no flowers to offer, if our herbs become overgrown.” Same as in real life, we have to be able to identify the issues in our relationships early on before they become overgrown weeds.
Self-care practices such as writing help us become compassionate, caring, and considerate spouses and partners. Researchers show that writing assists us in re-conceptualizing emotions and being less reactive. As a result, when a disagreement comes, we can deal with it more kindly, more thoughtfully and calmly.
Final Thoughts
So, the question remains – is selfcare the best therapy? Our answer is that it depends on who you are. If your personality and self care needs is such that you prefer to selfcare than speaking to a licensed professional (who we may add, remains a stranger at least for the first few weeks), then maybe selfcare can be the best form of therapy for you. And if you have no difficulty in opening up and sharing your thoughts and opinions openly, then a licensed professional could be suitable. You may also try therapy apps. Therapy is great resources but where one does not have the resources to pay for therapy or does not feel comfortable, then our position is that, even if it is not the best therapy, selfcare certainly helps!
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