Importance and Limitations of Self-Care

What is Self-care?

Self-care is a term used to describe things people do to help maintain a sense of wellness and balance in their lives. The term has evolved because of the increasing demands of modern life, and how it is seeming more difficult than ever to take time for ourselves. It is important to note that self-care looks different for everyone; to unwind from a busy day, one person might really enjoy yoga, and another person might prefer to call a friend.

What are the limitations of self-care?

In a very broad sense, there is nothing wrong with anything that someone does to make themselves feel more balanced. However, sometimes self-care can be interpreted in a way that promotes short-term relief at the expense of longer-term problems.

For example, someone might buy themselves a new pair of shoes as part of their self-care. If this person finds themselves buying more shoes than they can afford, it can become a long-term problem that could create more stress than the original shoe purchase was meant to address.

For this reason, we recommend including Meaningful Activity as part of your self-care plan. These are activities that you find value in, for the sake of the activity itself. These activities provide a feeling of purpose, accomplishment, and meaning, just by doing them. Like self-care, meaningful activities will be different for anyone.

Pause now and reflect – what activities give you meaning?