Wednesday: Self Care

Last week I told you a story about my slow realization that I needed to take time for self care when I started a challenging job.

But I forgot to mention one of the most important things I know about self care, which is that it rarely involves things like boxes of bonbons, bubble baths, or banks of lit candles. I do enjoy those things, but real self care involves more groundwork. Luxe indulgence has its place, but you can’t be totally present for a good long bath unless you are also getting enough sleep, eating the food your body needs, and paying attention to your psychic, mental, and physical health.

Not everyone can do everything all the time. I once read a funny article about the writer trying to follow each and every idea for health and fitness that they read in various places, from starting the day with journal writing to gentle bed yoga to oil pulling for tooth hygiene on to a glass of hot lemon water (or should the water come before the oil pulling? Hard to remember). If you followed all of these guidelines, you’d never have time for family or work or even a good binge watch. The amount of things we’re supposed to do just on a daily basis can be overwhelming.

That’s why I love the idea of “quantum wellness,” which was a book at one time and, I think, a good one — but I’m using the phrase outside of the book to say: Do the next right thing for your self care. Stand up for a minute. Drink a glass of water. Refocus your eyes, away from the screen. Make time to have a meal with another person once a day if you can. If you can’t, make one of your meals a little more special, by using a plate and flatware and a napkin.

You don’t have to do any of that or all of that. You can think of your own quantum (the word means “small”) steps, things you do to keep yourself in equilibrium. I’d love to hear some of those self-care steps. Send me a message here and I’ll compile a list for a future post.