8 Reasons Why Self-Care Should be Your Top Priority

With the world growing ever-so-smaller and ever-so-busier, terms like ‘priority lists’ and ‘3-year plans’ and ‘5-year plans’ have become very mundane to us. Everyone is always talking about them. I have been asked so many times about what my long-term and short-term goals are. Whether you are a student on the verge of graduating college, or you are someone in your mid-twenties, trying to figure out where the hell you want to go in life, or you are a seasoned professional who has her shit figured out, you will always be talking about these ‘plans’ and ‘lists’. And I am guilty of the same. Looking at life as a to-do list, where one thing after the other has to be checked out with no impertance given to self-care.

If I were to ask you to put on a piece of paper your top priorities in life today, I am sure the list would go something like this: Graduating college with super-awesome grades and a kickass job or busting my ass off so that I can get that promotion that I know I deserve or putting aside enough money so that I can put my kid through college or for my own retirement or that fancy-ass car, we always know what we want from ourselves. We always have these plans ready and when it comes to these goals, we are rearing to take the bull by the horns.

But how many of us pause to ask ourselves, what is it that I need today to feel better? To feel loved? To feel cared? When asked what your top priority in life is, how many of us will shout “ME”, unashamed and guilt free?

Why Self-Care?

In this near-perfect world with these beautiful Instagram stories and picture-perfect lives on Facebook, life has become one big endless competition. Today, a typical high school student suffers the same amount of anxiety as a psychiatric patient in the 1950s. There is so much stress about looking perfect and being perfect that we are somewhere forgetting what it just means to be human and to make mistakes. All we post about online are our triumphs and achievements but we don’t really stop and talk about what it means to be truly human. This has made burnout an inseparable part of our lives.

Self-care is the one thing that can truly help you deal with all of this stress in a better way. And the best part about it? You don’t have to spend a ton of money or depend on anyone else. There are so many simple, do-it-yourself at home kinda self-care activities that you can practice like running yourself a nice bubble bath, taking a couple of hours off from everything to just sit down and read, going for a jog, following your hobbies, traveling, listening to your favourite music, meditating, journaling and so many others. All you need to do is make self-care your priority and see how that truly changes your life and enhances your Life Résumé.

If you’re new around here and would like to know what Life Résumé is, you can find the article here.

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So, here are my 8 best reasons why you should make Self-Care your priority today:

1. You Cannot Pour from An Empty Cup

Do you guys ever have those days when all you want to do is lie on bed and do nothing? I definitely have them. There are days when, after getting home from work, all I want to do is laze around. And it’s not only because I’m lazy. It is because I have run out of fuel and energy. And I need some time to myself to bounce back and start taking care of things around me.
Living in a world where burnouts, anxiety and hypertension have become so very common, it is crucial to understand that taking care of yourself is the only way to steer clear of these lifestyle ailments. Self-replenishment is essential to be in a place where you can continue to be there for your friends, family and loved ones, as well as your job and the commitments you have towards your job. It is imperative to remember that we cannot give something we don’t have. Pouring from an empty cup is impossible. So, work towards filling your cups and see how wonderful it feels.

2. Health Is Wealth

The true essence of this adage is understood only when you are not doing so well. For me the wake-up call came a few months ago when I had my hand in a cast because of a wrist sprain. Sounds trivial right? But it affected my everyday life so much that I actually needed to call my parents to help me out with things.

Giving your health a priority does not come naturally to a lot of people. Especially with women, I have noticed that their own health always ends up being the last priority in an ever-demanding work life cycle. And this includes physical, mental and spiritual health. But regular self-care ensures that you are giving adequate importance to your own personal well-being.

3. Sacrificing Is Overrated

We have come to a point in our civilization where managing work deadlines, attending meetings and traveling for work has become much more important than eating timely meals, heading back home on time so that you can go and exercise and taking the necessary time to cook a meal so that you don’t eat take-out every day.

Here is a question for you: In a week, how many such ‘sacrifices’ do you actually end up making? How many of us promise ourselves that we will eat homemade food every week night but don’t because we are too exhausted? How many of us say that they are definitely getting a massage this weekend, but get caught up in the flow of all the work that needs to be done? Sacrificing may seem like the right thing to do, but it is very important to ask ourselves to what end are we making so many sacrifices? Though making sacrifices sounds heroic, you are depleting yourself from much-needed TLC, and that is unacceptable. So, set aside sometime for your self-care and the next time you feel the need to make a sacrifice, repeat to yourself, “Sacrificing is overrated. Taking care of ME is way more important”.

4. Importance of Managing Stress

For me, after a long day at work, nothing works its magic more than getting into my pyjamas, sitting on my favourite spot by the plants and reading a good book. It helps me unwind and just leave the stress of the day behind. For you this could be running a nice hot bath with aromatic salts, or meditating, or getting your nails done, playing with your kid, cooking a scrumptious meal or even going for a jog. All of these tiny little rituals are important because they play a massive role in helping you dealing with the stress. Because stress, if not managed well, can lead to manifold complications like hypertension, heart diseases and diabetes as well as a lot of mental health issues like anxiety, and depression. Then why not work on preventing such ailments rather than treating them when they have become a much larger problem. Self-care can help in drastically dropping your stress levels while helping you lead a much more balanced life.

5. You Cannot Love Something You Don’t Care For

Anytime any of us gets a plant or a pet, we take so much care of it. We water it, look after it, buy it toys, take it for a walk. You love to take care of things that matter to you. It is time to realize that you matter to yourself the most and self-care is the first step towards self-love. If you don’t care for something, I feel it is highly unlikely that you will love it eventually. A lot of us struggle with this concept of self-love. Living in a culture that teaches us that constant competition is a way of life, self-love can seem much a harder aspiration.

So, start with a little self-care, one step at a time. Care for yourself the way you care for everyone and everything around you, and watch the wonders that will do to your self-esteem and eventually self-love.

6. The Time, Health, Money Conundrum

When you are younger, you have a lot of time, you are in good health, but you don’t have a lot of money (sometimes not even a little!). When you are in your 30s and 40s, you have much lesser time with jobs, kids and other commitments, you have decent health and you have decent amount of money but the demands of life are also higher. When you cross your fifties, you have much more time, much more money (hopefully) but your health is on the decline. This is what I call the Time, Health, Money Conundrum.

This is a cycle that most of us go through today. Self-care can definitely play a huge role in ensuring that you are in good health throughout your life, so that you can give time to your priorities in life and can also ensure you are capable of earning money. Remember, it is better to spend some time on self-care today, than having to spend your health, time and money and recovering from ailments later in your life.

7. Nothing Lasts Forever

I read this term for the first time as a 14-year old devouring a novel by Sidney Sheldon titled ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. That was when I first read it, but it has taken much longer for me to internalize and accept that nothing, indeed, does last forever. That course you are taking over weekends that leaves you with no time and no energy, that job that is so demanding that you get nightmares about not meeting your deadlines, your new-born that doesn’t seem to let you sleep even through one night, none of this is going to last forever. What does last is your health, your peace of mind, the steps you are taking today to improve your self-esteem and your self-confidence and all the efforts you are putting in today towards loving yourself. These are the things that last and self-care plays a very critical role in helping you achieve these.

8. Making Peace with Your Lifelong Companion

No matter how much you love your family, your parents, your spouse, your children, your friends, there is only one person that is going to last you a lifetime. And that person is You! You are your only true lifelong companion. Sounds a little depressing, right? But it is a truth that needs to be acknowledged and accepted. And now that we have accepted it, we owe to our only lifelong companion to take care of them in the same way that we take care of so many others around us. Self-care helps us nourish our mind, body and soul and helps us make peace with ourselves.

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These are my top 8 reasons why everyone must make self-care a priority. Do you have any other reasons why you practice self-care? I would love your thoughts on this. I would also like to know what your idea of self-care entails. So get off your ass and do one small act of self-care and show yourself how much you love yourself. Until next time, keep loving, keep caring and keep growing!

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