I know “self-care” is a buzz word right now and you can find plenty of articles defining and identifying strategies for “self-care”. I’ve even seen articles questioning the possibility of effective “self-care” for certain groups like parents of small children. Whatever the case, I BELIEVE “self-care” is absolutely essential to survive and thrive in our personal lives.

Whatever strategies you employ, it has to work for you, whether that be taking bubble baths and/ or participating in therapy. There are so many things you can do, some I may not have considered or am not interested in, so I’m not going to make a list.

I will say some facets of self-care are very basic. I’ve noticed my team and myself doing things that point to a lack of basic self-care. I will share a couple examples with you.

1. Holding your urine for extended periods of time. Go pee! Stop doing the pee pee dance at work. I’m guilty of this one right here! My work days consist of being in meetings all day, planning, problem solving, and collaborating. On one level, I drink plenty of water for health reasons, but what good is it to destroy my already weak, aging bladder because I think I’m too busy to stop what I’m doing to take a much needed restroom break? Really??? I’ve been working on changing the narrative in my head from “It’s so annoying I need to go to the restroom right now!” to “Thank Goodness! Relieving myself will make my body very happy!”
2. Not preparing for basic needs like food. What do I mean by this? I mean bring snacks and lunch to work, or while running errands, to avoid being hungry. Yes, I know there are articles on the benefits of intermittent fasting, but I’m not referring to intermittent fasting or any type of fasting, for that matter. I’m also not referring to poverty related hunger. I’m referring to basic planning to have food on hand, especially if you don’t like to be hungry. Not eating when you need to can contribute to other problems such as binge eating, brain fogginess, and the “hangry” attitude.

I don’t have this issue because I take breakfast, lunch, and snacks to work EVERY SINGLE day. I’ve made the mistake of not bringing food, thinking I would have time to grab a lunch from somewhere. Silly me! With the nature of my current position, I learned early on I may not be able to leave the office to pick up food because of an impromptu meeting. Since I don’t like to be hungry for lengthy periods plus I enjoy eating healthy, I bring all my meals and snacks to work. It doesn’t help there aren’t many appealing restaurant options near our current work location. This is actually probably a good thing. On the weekends, I find having small packets of mixed nuts and a bottle of water life-saving when running errands.

Plan ahead people! Take care of the basic functions of your body: eat, drink, eliminate, and sleep. You have more control than you think! Your body will thank you. And ultimately it demonstrates self-love and self-care.