While I’m not certain, I suspect the term ‘self-care’ would sound like a foreign concept if you could go back in time about fifty years and ask any random individual about it on the street. I would wager that any generations succeeding the baby boomers would not be familiar with this term, arguably because self-care was not something that was practiced back then nearly to the same extent it is today.
With mental health awareness becoming more and more prominent all of the time, so, too, has the notion of self-care, arguably because the two go hand-in-hand; if one’s mental health is tanking, a great way to address this decline is through some self-care habits.
As important as self-care is, these days, it’s becoming almost impossible to adequately keep up with it because of cost. Services like counselling, massages, acupuncture and so on have never been less affordable here in Canada, and if you don’t have the privilege of having benefits or being married to someone who does, the idea of self-care can quickly seem like an unattainable thing.
Self-care does not have to be a luxury, nor should it be. I thought I would offer some things I do to practice self-care that won’t leave your credit card smoking.
Sleep happens to be free of charge, and getting enough of it and allowing our bodies to properly rest is a fantastic way to take care of ourselves. Poor sleep is a great way to run ourselves into the ground, and the more we engage with shitty sleeping habits, the worse we tend to feel.
Eating a balanced diet is another good tactic, although this one is definitely more expensive than sleeping. But, selecting more affordable brands does not mean sacrificing quality, and it is possible to eat well on a budget.
Check back tomorrow for part two.
Photo by Dmitry Ganin on Unsplash
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