It seems like everywhere you turn today, someone is talking about it… SELF CARE. But what is self-care and why is self care important? Does it really actually matter? Especially when compared with every other seemingly crisis-level issue in the world today?
The World Health Organization thinks so. It defines self-care as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote their own health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker” and describes its importance as “critical components on the path to reaching universal health coverage (UHC), promoting health, keeping the world safe and serving the vulnerable.” Yes, ok then. That seems important!
What is self-care for you?
So what about for you? When you hear “self- care,” when you see these words, what do you feel? And what comes to mind for your care specifically? Is it manicures and face masks? An evening at the movies or coffee with your friend? Beach days? Walks in nature maybe? What about sleeping well? Getting enough Vitamin D and green leafy vegetables?
Why is self care important?
If you answered with any of these responses, you aren’t wrong; these each fit the bill for care of self. Yet here at OnFluency™, we suggest that the question of self-care – what it is and why it matters – has its genesis much deeper than any of these can capture alone. And while we don’t mean to open an existential can of worms about the very meaning of human existence and life itself, we do mean to spark a movement of energy inside of you at the core of your being; in that place of your deepest stuff, your truest essence.
That which makes you who you are.
It’s where we feel the questions without the easy answers. It’s where knots exist…but are also loosened. Where sleeplessness hits us…but where the deepest rest is also possible. The place not where answers are found, but the need for them loses its power. For it is in this place where we meet our truest self.
That which gives you purpose and meaning.
