‘Self-care’ seems to be the new buzz word, I hear it everywhere!
I think this is fantastic! The suggestions once reserved for clinicians and physicians have become more mainstream, creating a dialogue about self-care, health, and well-being. And I also notice self-care is often confused with self-pampering or self-indulgence. There is an enormous difference between these three concepts-self-care, self-pampering, and self-indulgence. You can read more about What Self-Care Is, and What It’s Not to listen to a podcast I created on self-care or you can click on the link and read the show notes instead. In this brief podcast, I talk about the differences between all of these concepts. However, in this post. I want to give you twelve reasons why self-care for moms is essential.
1. Motherhood is a 24-hour, seven days a week, all year-long, for at least 18 years directly, and continues throughout a mother’s lifetime. It is a journey, and you have to take care of you!
2. It’s impossible to keep giving and fulfilling the demands and responsibilities of your life AND stay healthy if you don’t make self-care a priority.
3. Taking care of yourself is a living example of teaching your children the importance of caring for their body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
4. You can not give to others what you don’t already have for yourself.
5. Self-care promotes well-being in all areas of your life including physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being.
6. Practicing self-care helps you to cope with stress and the unpredictable situations that arise when raising a family.
7. A schedule of self-care in your everyday routine creates mini-breaks and things to look forward to.
8. Self-care, especially physical self-care (sleep, exercise, nutrition) is the foundation of well-being.
9. It is a gift you give to your children.
10. Self-care practices, including spiritual and emotional self-care, increases gratitude, happiness, and gives meaning to life.
11. A practice of self-care promotes stable health and well-being.
12. Most self-care skills and strategies require no money! The investment is your time, energy, and a commitment to take care of you!
If you’d like to learn more about self-care and well-being, please take the quiz I developed, How is Your Well-Being and Self-Care? The quiz is a free and will give you personalized scores in overall well-being as well as in the categories of physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual self-care. Not only will you receive scores in each of these areas, but you’ll also get suggestions, skills, and strategies to improve and maintain well-being. I hope this post, quiz and podcast mentioned, inspire you to start today increasing self-care!
© Copyright Dr. Claire Nicogossian 2017