Caring In The Present

Let’s be honest. We’ve all heard about self-care. Most of us are probably tired of hearing about it. So why do we keep talking about it? Self-care is easy shorthand for most people. It’s an easy way to put taking care of yourself and making yourself feel good into a nice little box.

I think that we need to separate self-care into different categories and acknowledge where we can improve how we take care of ourselves while accepting that some things can’t be fixed by a bubble bath. Larger societal issues are the first things that come to mind, like food insecurity, poverty, and many of the other things Americans are dealing with at the moment. Self-care is not going to fix people’s health issues. While it is true that properly taking care of yourself and your body can alleviate some things, it isn’t magic. My chronic illness, my sister’s physical disability, and my friend’s mental health are not going to disappear because we went on a walk and got some fresh air.

But that doesn’t mean self-care isn’t important! In fact, self-care can help us de-stress, cope with illness, prevent diseases, live life according to our values, recharge our energy levels, and connect with others. It can be difficult to do self-care properly, and, as much as I enjoy Parks and Rec, let’s move away from “Treat Yo’ Self!” While getting a little treat here or there is great, that isn’t the main way we should be taking care of ourselves.

I recognize that I still haven’t defined self-care. Let’s do that now. According to the World Health Organization, self-care is “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote and maintain their own health, prevent disease, and to cope with illness – with or without the support of a health or care worker.” This definition is very broad, but it’s still specifically focused on health and on the actions that we can take.

Where do we go from here? Well, now that we have the information we can use it. Let’s stop expecting self-care to get rid of all our stress or make a bad situation better. We can start using it properly to focus on our own health. Having the information is always the first step to taking action.