The Balanced Life, Huntsville Alabama

There are a lot of misconceptions about self-care. Unfortunately, it’s a word that’s become overused and carries with it an unmistakable negative stigma.

Some people think self-care means getting a massage, a pedicure, or going shopping at the mall. Some think it’s actually selfish to prioritize their needs above the needs of others. Some people don’t believe they have the time to stop and think about what they need in order to take care of themselves.

Self-care can be as simple as taking a slow walk outside in nature, sleeping in late, saying no to an invitation from a friend, or simply allowing yourself to feel and lean on a friend for support.

Self-care starts with the awareness that there’s an issue. Trauma, depression, and anxiety can all create a drain on us mentally, emotionally, and physically but so can just pushing ourselves too hard for too long. Caregivers, counselors, and even parents can also struggle with compassion fatigue where they devote a large amount of time and energy to caring for others and (often by default) begin to neglect themselves.

Agnes Wainman says that self-care is “something that refuels us rather than takes from us.”

When we are physically drained, we are more likely to take care of our own basic needs (rest, food, water, sleep) than when we are mentally drained but bouncing back is the beginning of healing and in mental health we refer to that as resilience.

In order to bounce back from being mentally drained, we can of course take care of ourselves physically but it will also help to practice mindfulness, reframing, and radical acceptance.

Mindfulness is about being present in the moment and not letting our minds wander too long into the past or the future. The past only exists in our minds in the form of memories and the future doesn’t exist at all and isn’t promised to any of us. Staying present in the current moment allows us to make conscious, intentional changes that help us direct our lives toward the future we want.

Reframing is about seeing the silver lining on every storm cloud even if the silver lining just comes in a lesson we learned as a result of a particularly difficult or challenging time in our lives.

Lastly, radical acceptance is about seeing and acknowledging your current reality as real. You don’t have to like it in order to accept it. In fact, it’s a lot like the adage of the spilled milk. Radical acceptance is just about accepting that the milk was spilled but you don’t have to leave it there!

Self-care is also something that can be done pro-actively by adding in practices that build up and nurture our emotional, mental and physical needs on a regular basis so that when we’re struggling or in crisis we can automatically turn to those practices for additional self-support.

What can you do right now to support and nurture and refuel yourself? We can help! Contact us at 256-258-7777 or email info@thebalancedlifellc.com.