Can you believe we are already a month into 2023? I’m wondering where you are at with any new year resolutions you may have made? So often January is a great time to think about what you want the year ahead to look like and to make any changes to your health, relationships, finances, jobs or hobbies. But how many of us follow through with them.
I’m sure we all have a wide variety of goals for 2023 we would like to achieve. I’m wondering if Self Care is one of them? Most of us see Self Care as what we do IF we have time left over from the more important things we have to do on our list, right?
As the research suggests there are many benefits of self-care such as:
- managing stress,
- reducing symptoms of mental health issues,
- giving us more energy,
- better sleep,
- strong relationships; and
- improved physical health.
Self-care is crucial for our overall mental health and wellbeing. Effective and sustainable self-care shouldn’t compete with other facets of our life but rather it works alongside them to build up our ability to cope with stress, sadness, disappointment and builds our capacity for connection, resilience and over all physical and mental health.
Instead of seeing self-care simply as an activity, by re-framing self-care as a self-support system that is always available to you as a valuable resource, it becomes a way of living life rather than an obligation to be filled. Self-care can involve activities we enjoy but it is also about managing your energy and values and not just your time.
It’s important to note that self-care looks different for everyone.
Rather than focusing on finding a how to manual, remind yourself that self-care is simply an intentional way of living by your values, attitudes and actions and integrating them into your day-to-day routines.
You don’t need a new year to make changes, you have a brand new opportunity each day.
Michelle Fife
Wellbeing Manager
Disaster Relief Australia
michelle.fife@disasterreliefaus.org