What is Self-care?

The World Health Organization defined self-care as:

‘Self-Care is what people do for themselves to establish and maintain health, and to prevent and deal with illness. It is a broad concept encompassing hygiene, nutrition, lifestyle, environmental factors, socio-economic factors and self-medication.’

However, for each one of us self-care may hold a different perception or meaning, but it nevertheless shares the same basic philosophy for all of us: looking after your own self.

It’s easy to neglect taking care of ourselves because when we’re busy and overwhelmed, even a small reprieve feels like a luxury. So actually taking time to eat lunch, exercise, and hang out with friends? That just feels like slacking. That mindset backfires, though. Self care actually helps you make progress faster for a few reasons:

• Self care prevents “overload burnout” : We’ve all been there: you push yourself to the point that you can’t take anymore so you just give up.
• Self care reduces the negative effects of stress:

A small amount of stress can serve a purpose, but after a while, it just breaks down your mind and body. Taking care of yourself means keeping your stress from taking over so you can function at full capacity.

In other words, self care is not a reward. It’s part of the process. Sometimes we get so used to “rewarding ourselves” with lunch or a even a trip to the bathroom, that we forget exactly what it means to take care of ourselves.