4 Things You Must Know About Self Care

What a perfect way to kick off the week. Today, Maxie is sharing her advice for making the most of your self care routine.

4 Things You Must Know About Self Care

Guest post by Maxie McCoy

The way we take care of ourselves matters. I think we’d all agree with that. And there’s sure as heck no absence of information telling us how to “do self care” better, more efficiently, or with greater success. It seems like every problem we have could be answered with “self care”. Sometimes, it feels like this has become a blanket statement for every possible challenge or emotional hurdle that we’re facing. Like self care is an easy fix. 

The reason it’s probably so easy to “prescribe” is because it IS so wildly important. Especially as our lives become more complex, it’s really easy to put other things and other people first. Like getting great grades in school at the cost of our sleep. Or putting our family and friends always ahead of our own needs. Or letting work take up 150% of our time without ever creating space for ourselves. 

One of the many reasons that’s a huge problem is because when we ignore ourselves, we get disconnected. And if we’re disconnected, we lose touch with our own needs, emotions, desires, and wisdom. All of those things are needed in order to make great decisions, stay in flow, and overcome challenges. If we have ourselves, we’re good. If we’ve lost ourselves, life can feel a little bit harder. To me, that’s exactly and only what self care is – the way in which you stay connected to yourself. So, if you’re feeling like you need to come back to you, remember this about self care, and implement accordingly: 

Self care can be quite challenging at first. Especially if you’ve been disconnected or not prioritizing yourself for a long time. It can feel weird and difficult to get back in touch with your own truth and your own needs. Even just breathing deeply might allow some tough feelings or past experiences to come up. So, if self care feels hard, it doesn’t mean it’s a sign to stop. It just means it’s worth slowing down and taking your time with taking care of yourself again. 

Self care is different for everyone. Some people’s self care looks very active – like workouts – while others people’s could be totally creative. Self care is as unique as we are as people. There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for self care. What you’re looking for is whether or not you’re feeling connected to yourself and you’re feeling the energy that you need. If that’s happening, then you’re doing self care as well as you can. 

Self care can be really small. You don’t have to commit to therapy twice a week or work out every day or take a month long vacation or meditate an hour a day without fail to be taking care of yourself. It can be tiny things like lighting your favorite candle or taking a bath or putting on lipstick you love. It doesn’t have to be these sweeping changes you implement immediately and for eternity. Or spend a ton of money on. It just has to be time and energy that makes you feel like you’re taking care of you. 

Self care doesn’t mean you’re regimented or efficient. Often, we talk about self care like it’s this perfect routine that helps us feel totally productive and put together. That’s just not the case. Your life can be in total chaos and you can still be taking care of yourself. You can have a wildly unpredictable schedule that changes every day and still be feeling connected to yourself. So, if your self care is different each day, or only happening when you need it to, or not as glossy and polished of a routine as you want, remember that’s not what matters. What matters is that you’re doing it, however you’re doing it, whenever you’re doing it. 

Listen to you and only you when it comes to what you need in order to feel taken care of. The more you tune into your own intuition and voice, the more you’ll know what you need. And the more you know and do what you need, the louder the voice of truth will get. That’s self care.

For more advice ritualizing your self care, read Maxie’s book You’re Not Lost.