Is Self care Selfish?

 

Why self care isn’t selfish?

The phrase, “you can’t pour from an empty cup”, basically means that in order for us as humans to effectively take care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first. Sometimes individuals feel like taking the time out for themselves to engage in self care activities feel selfish. However, self care is not selfish.

Self care allows us humans to find and maintain balance and continue functioning at the optimum level, like a well oiled machine that increases our ability to help care for others. 

For example, you would not expect your car to continuously run for 5000 miles without stopping for gas or having its oil changed, similarly you too cannot expect that of yourself! Running on empty eventually leads to a machine that no longer functions.

With this in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a moment to check-in with yourself:

• How full is your cup? Or, how full is your gas tank right now?
• Do you need to stop and fill up?
• What do you need in this moment? What activity or self-care behavior would help fill up your cup?
• How can you regularly schedule checking in with yourself – and self-care practices– into your week?

Scheduling a “cup check” regularly helps you to understand how if you are running on empty, and then solve the problem by speaking to your therapist on how to best help yourself so that you can be of service to the important people, and yourself in your life.

Many individuals so not check in with themselves until their cup is empty. Subsequent engagement in “self care tends to be in reaction to feeling very overwhelmed rather than proactively scheduling self care activities to buffer oneself from feeling overwhelmed.

What strategy would work best for you? Could you commit to trying a “cup check” at least 1 day this week?