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Self Care Isn’t Selfish
It’s a basic need
The other day, my sister was telling me how challenging it was for her to work two weeks of 12-hour shifts. She does contractor work, so it’s all physical labor work. She talked about how sore she was, and how bad her muscles hurt. Then she said something that really stuck with me. She said the hardest part of that two weeks was getting up early to do her morning workout routine. I’m sure I looked at her like she was crazy. Certainly, she was getting plenty of exercise working physical 12-hour shifts!
Then she said, “It’s the one thing I do for myself every day.”
I understood.
I’ve been thinking about self-care for years. There is not one thing I do purposely for myself on a daily basis. Or even on a weekly basis. But, I have four children. And all of them have a wide range of special needs. They are all what is considered “high functioning.”
My cup has been dry for so many years that I flounder with ways to go about filling it, or at least moistening it.
When I think about ways to do something for myself every day, I feel that it is too much of a “luxury” thing, and in most ways selfish. Some days I am lucky enough to take care of my own basic needs, let alone anything above and/or beyond that. One day last week I was reduced to eating lunch as I…
