One Year Into the Pandemic, Self Care is Still Important
AKA, just because we’ve become “used to” the pandemic and aren’t living in “shock mode” anymore, doesn’t mean we should slack off on self-care and giving ourselves a break every once in a while.
We’re officially one year into the pandemic, and though it’s become our collective “new normal,” that doesn’t mean it’s really been normal at all. For a full year now we’ve been dealing with our lives, relationships, hobbies and careers being completely derailed, and we don’t just have to be okay with that.
In fact, it’s valid to be upset about it, even a year later when the shock’s worn off. Yes, the changes we’ve made (like locking down when needed, for example) have been necessary to saving lives (which is a good thing), but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be mourning for what we’ve lost/our “regular” lives pre-pandemic.
I’d say, actually, that one year in, it’s more important now than ever before to practice regular self-care, and as always I will add— self-care is not selfish.
I’ve posted this photo before, but I believe in this message wholeheartedly and it’s nice to remind you all: self-care isn’t selfish!
Simple ways to practice pandemic self-care
So, what is self-care and why should we practice it? That’s a two part answer: self-care is anything that makes you feel good about yourself, or relaxed and refreshed (as long as its not at the expense of others), and we should practice it because the old adage “you can’t pour from an empty cup” happens to be 100% true.
Self-care can be anything from curling up with a good book (while ignoring those emails for an hour or two— trust me, the world will not end if you unplug for a moment), to exercising regularly to meditating to, well, whatever makes you feel your best. Don’t stress or place too much emphasis on having a perfect “self-care” routine; that defeats the purpose. Just do what makes you feel good, spending time prioritizing yourself and your own needs for a moment or two (even during a busy day or work week.)
In the spirit of keeping this short-and-sweet, I’ll leave it at this; just because we’ve become sort of numb to this topsy-turvy-anything-but-okay pandemic world doesn’t mean we should stop prioritizing our mental health and wellbeing. Self-care is NOT SELFISH, and it’s more important to practice it today than ever before, IMO.
Xoxo, MM.