“Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean me first – it means me, too.”
Every now and then, a new trend comes along that seems to drive wellness culture for a few minutes – a form of what I call ‘shiny object syndrome’. You know what I’m talking about.
Remember ‘strong is the new skinny’ and the soon-to-be-followed ‘dad bod’? Even now the concept of wellness seems to be getting hotter, replacing weight loss, fitness, and even CrossFit (did you see Weight Watchers changed its name and identity to be about wellness, not weight?).
To me, wellness shouldn’t be trendy and it should be based on you – however, the world we live in today means for many, the opposite is true. It’s all about trends and one-size-fits-all ideas. The latest one I’m noticing: Self-care.
Check social media or the internet and I’m sure you’ll find no shortage of self-care-focused info.
The concept of self-care is that you must take time for yourself, everything from the lavish – dreams of spa days and massages – to the simple – taking a half hour to read a book or relax in your tub. It seems to be aimed at women, mothers in particular, because the rule is women put all their energy into caring for others, there’s nothing left for them to give to themselves.
Time for fitness & friends is what I need for me.
Yes, it’s important to take time for ourselves – but that’s what your individual wellness is all about. To create a whole “thing” of it with the self-care movement, I don’t think so.
What do I need to do for self-care? Am I doing enough for self-care? OMG, now I need to make time for self-care, too?!
All of a sudden there’s a new pressure on us to achieve one more thing: self-care. But, at its basic, self-care is simply taking time for you, doing what you want, what makes you feel good. It doesn’t need a fancy new name or trendy movement. It’s ‘me’ time.
For me, this most often shows up in the form of something sweaty. A heavy lift, a good old EFX sesh, or, my usual favorite, the long run. Sometimes it involves food, meeting a friend for lunch or enjoying breakfast before my guys wake up. And a couple times a year, it involves dedicated time with my best girlfriends.
Then there are some days where what I need to do to be at my best is sleep in and take a rest day. And I do it – I mean, rest days are important after all.
I make time for these things because I want to do them, they’re part of who I am – not because I’m desperately seeking time to care for myself or feel pressured like I have to practice self-care because it’s the newest trend.
We should always be taking care of ourselves, at least a little bit each day. Some days, there’s not much to it. And that’s okay. We have enough on our plates, there’s no need to add to it with the pressure of achieving the idea of self-care.
What do you think about the self-care trend? Has it inspired you, stressed you out more, or have you not even noticed it? I love hearing other points of view so please leave a comment or tweet me, @LindsayIRL.