Pause, Reflect and Choose

We all know what ‘self-care’ means… or do we? What is self-care?

It’s one of those terms that’s used a lot but what does it actually mean?

At its simplest level, we can take self-care to mean straightforward things like getting enough sleep, eating foods which give you energy and vitality, investing in your relationships (with your partner, children or friends) in such a way that they are life- or energy-giving, as opposed to energy-draining. It can mean having other interests that are life-enhancing – e.g. if you’re someone who needs time on your own, managing your time so that you can achieve some time alone or, if you’re someone who gets energy by being with people, do you make time and space for that?

And none of these things need to be big or onerous, its more about pausing, reflecting and choosing. It’s about thinking about which things support and nourish you: what ‘fills your well’. For instance, if your work demands a lot of your time because of different time zones, or perhaps you have small children, you may need to actually mark out or schedule specific times for you. And it’s not about seeking or expecting the perfect conditions, it’s about acknowledging the conditions you’re operating in and balancing out your various demands. So these aspects form the standard, foundational conversation about self-care. But you can take the concept to a more sophisticated level: which is leaning more into the actualisation.