There are two kinds of change in this world: The change we long for and the change that finds us. Before 2020, the timing of these changes were typically different for each of us. For me, I got married after a lot of my friends but before all of my sisters. And when my first career was ending, some of my friends’ jobs were just taking off.
But then COVID hit, and change found us all.
Our world came to a stand still, and our lives changed in ways we are still discovering. Collectively we’ve all experienced trauma, while individually the side effects have played out in similar yet different ways. For example, not all of us lost our jobs, but all of our jobs were effected. All of our relationships have looked different, while some have come to heartbreaking ends.
We’re all experiencing the change that finds us.
The change we wouldn’t choose. Or the change we would choose—but at a different time entirely. For many of us life has slowed down, while for others of us it has sped up. And almost nothing about 2020 looks the way we planned.
For this reason, many of us have entered survival mode. That mode where we’ve shut down some of our life, to give all of our attention and energy to what is most pressing. Only often, that mode also shuts down the part of us that practices self care. It tells us, we’ll sleep when this is over. We’ll worry about drinking more water later. Those people really need us, so we’ll take care of ourselves when we’d done helping them.
When we don’t include self care in our survival mode practices, we end up barely surviving.
Only when we don’t include self care in our survival mode practices, we end up barely surviving. Sure, we may come through this tough time, but we’ll need to spend at least six weeks in bed afterward. We won’t be healthy for the good times to come.
That is why, if you’re ignoring self care in this season, today I want to share with you five reasons, to begin caring for yourself again. Believe it or not, the world needs you—not just today, but for years to come. This means, we also need you to take care of yourself.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
We don’t know how long the effects of this pandemic will last. Nor do we yet have a full picture of what our world and lives will look like on the other side. If you’ve been living in survival mode since march, it’s time to look at your day to day schedule. Where do you need to do less self comfort and more self care (for more on this, see this post)?
Under stress, our bodies whisper until they shout.
For many of us, our bodies give us subtle messages when we’re wearing thin. Perhaps it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning, our muscles ache a little, we feel a little cranky, etc. Only, we’ve been taught to grab a coffee, an energy drink, or a donut, and push on through. Ignore the pain and keep going. Only when we do this over and over, we cause more harm to our bodies than good. If we ignore our bodies, pretty soon they will give out on us in the form of ulcers, acid reflux, or simply a terrible cold or flu that will have us laid out a lot longer than taking time to get enough sleep each night.
Your people need you.
I know, your people are struggling and you want to do everything you can to help them. Only often our best way of helping our loved ones, isn’t to be there every moment, trying to take the pain away. We really don’t have that power. Rather, though it seems counterintuitive, by taking care of ourselves, we will be better able to take care of our people. When we take the time to get enough sleep, exercise, and pray—we can rejuvenate our bodies and souls. Then we can better see how we are called to love and care for our people in the midst of their struggle.
You want to be healthy for the good part.
Right now, we’re in the working-through-the-hard-stuff part of 2020. At some point, good times will come again. We need to take care of ourselves today, so we can be healthy when social distancing is over and we get to party and hug people again.
You only get one life.
I used to think life was a gift we were supposed to use until it wore out like an old stuffed animal. But now, I see it more like a plant that needs to be tended. If we want our lives to bear good fruit for years to come, we need to take of ourselves. We need to tend all the parts of us from which good things grow.
Where have you let your self care practices go?
How do you need to take care of yourself this week?
Looking for some ideas of where to start when it comes to self care, check out these posts:
Three Screen-less Self Care Practices
Trouble With Self Care? Start With Scrambled Eggs
Feeling a little adrift in this strange, new normal of being at home? Sign up for my email list and get your free copy of my Social Distancing Survival Guide: Everyday Routines. Sign up here.
Photo by Jannis Brandt on Unsplash
