I used to think that self-care = being selfish. I think the reason for this was mainly due to two things.
1. My definition of self-care was completely off from what my body and mind needed
2. I wasn’t used to putting myself first – (work came first)
When you google self-care images, I guarantee you will see at least one picture of someone in a bubble bath or a woman with a face mask on and cucumbers on her eyes. This isn’t self-care for everyone and this for sure is not self-care for me!
2021 taught me that self-care for me looks like: writing this blog, reading books, taking naps, taking long walks outdoors, meditation with the help of Headspace (10/10 recommend this app), listening to podcasts like Brené Brown’s and Glennon Doyle’s, and lastly spending time at the beach in the sun doing nothing.
None of this looks like a bubble bath. I am just not a bubble bath girl. So by changing my definition of what self-care is to what does my body and mind need to “re-charge” I found it much easier to do this whole “self-care” thing that everyone raves about.
I also stopped feeling bad about it and I think that was because while I putting myself first I was able to do my work better. I attended Gainsight’s Pulse convention virtually this year to help me with my transition from Account Manager to Customer Success Manager. One of the speakers was Alyson Watson (CEO of Modern Health) and what she said about self-care completely resonated with me and helped me work on overcoming my second issue with self-care.
I don’t have her exact quote but basically, in her session, she discussed how as a Customer Success Manager, your customers look to you to have answers and provide calm clear guidance when issues or roadblocks come up. It is crucial in a role like this to make sure you put your needs first that way you can show up and support your customers in the best way you can. When you are on a plane in an emergency and the oxygen masks drop, the first thing the flight attendants say to do is to put on your mask before helping others. This is how self-care needs to be looked at. If you can’t take care of yourself how can you expect yourself to help others?
Redefining my definition of self-care and realizing that if I put myself first, I will be better at my job helped me see that self-care is not selfish. This is not something I came to realize overnight or over a few days or even a few weeks. It took me months… almost a whole year to be exact to overcome this. The advice I have is to start small and ask yourself, what do I need to do to re-charge… then do it – no hesitations.
Make 2022 the year you take care of yourself and your needs so that you to can show up as the best version of yourself!
Comments