Self-care:Reactive or Proactive?

The term “self-care” is often tossed around lightly.

Our mind and body are interconnected, and are essentially one system.

As a society, we typically approach self-care reactively. We wait until we are in distressed and call out sick from work, get a pedicure or a massage. It’s something that gives us a little bit of instant gratification, but doesn’t have much longevity.

Emotional stress manifests in our body; headaches/migrains, pain, heart palpitations, vertigo, tension, muscle spasms…

When our body experiences physical pain, it has an impact on our emotional and spiritual body and can present in several ways; anxiety, depression, insomnia…

While reactive selfceare is important , the more proactive we are about our self-care, we have better ability to cope with the stressors we experience in life.

Well rounded self-care could look like doing some of the following regularly:

• Physical activity

• Stretching

• Talk therapy

• Bodywork (MFR/CST/Massage)

• Mediation

• Sensory Deprivation/FLOAT

• Less time using electronics

• Hobbies that bring joy

• Planned days off from work