Self Care vs Self Care

Self care has become a buzzword in my generation. Something the old heads look down on us and call us pussies for. Why would you take care of yourself? Just rub some dirt on it and keep moving. Observing others and seeing those do #selfcare and those who practice self care are two very different circumstances. Self care is work. It is working on yourself in order to improve your circumstances and make your life better, be in physiological, physical, environmental, social, you name it, all of the above are realms likely to need improvement and can benefit from a little, carefully dosed stress in order to improve. The first, and also the easiest step in this process is identifying the problem and declaring it. I don’t like “X”, “X” makes me uncomfortable or mad or some other negative attachment. Fortunately, that is the easy part. Unfortunately that is where most of us stop. You noticed your roof is leaking, that is great, that is the first step in fixing a problem is identifying that it is in fact a problem. Unlike a leaky roof, some of these issues that fall under the umbrella of self care may be a bit harder to recognize than water in your ceiling/attic. If your roof was leaking, you’d either call for professional help, or fix it yourself. Of course the solutions here exist along a continuum and what “help” looks like today could be as much as a skilled friend or as little as a YouTube video. Regardless of your chosen path to a solution, this part requires work, in this case, physical work to resolve and move through the problem.

Our issues of self are much like this roof, however, a roof can be objectively fixed, while our minds and habits are a little more complex and open to interpretation. The paths to work on these issues may involve talking with professionals, religion, social time, reading literature, or even, like the roof, watching YouTube videos. All of these will give you info to move the dial forward, but you still have to move the dial. You still have to do something to improve your lot. No one can do this for you. Declaring your issue is not enough. It may validate that you are someone who recognizes their issues, but it does nothing to solve your issues.

I am not one to tell you what this work looks like exactly, but I can tell you that it is in fact work. It will require your attention and your time, and the more of those resources you have to give to it, the more magnified the changes will present themselves. Don’t take this as a call to put your head down and #grind through these issues, as they will take time. Self care is hard. Just remember, that something being hard is ok.