When I had a husband, young kids, and a corporate job, I thought of myself as a sort of Superwoman who could do it all. I could take care of the house, the kids, be the wife, and the great mom, and the career woman. But the truth was it was wearing me out. And guess what? When we’re tired, we’re not very good at any of our jobs, whether it’s being a parent, a partner, a business owner, and/or an employee. So, rather than thinking of self-care as something selfish, why don’t we think about it as a necessity? Why don’t we consider the importance of self-care to be just as high as the importance of taking care of our kids and significant other?
Let’s take a look at some of the ways taking time for yourself can, not only improve your life, but improve the lives of those around you.
Self-Care Gives You More Energy
When you take time to recharge, whether it’s physically, spiritually, or mentally (or all three), you have more energy, which means you’re able to provide better care to those around you when they need it. When looked at this way, it’s easy to see why the importance of self-care is far from selfish. If anything, self-care is necessary to make sure you’re better at performing all your jobs, whether that means raising kids, running the world, or both.
Self-Care Makes You More Productive
Engaging in a regular routine of self-care has been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, while improving memory, concentration, and cognition. Not only does this mean we have more energy, it also means we’re better at performing our responsibilities (whether those are personal or professional responsibilities) because we’re more alert and functioning at a higher level than if we ignore our own needs and try to “power through”.
Self-Care Improves Longevity
We often run ourselves into the ground because we think everything will fall apart if we’re not there to hold it all together, so why wouldn’t we take care of ourselves to make sure we’re around longer to hold everything together?
When we don’t take some time to prioritize self-care, we wear ourselves out, and the result is that we’re more likely to get sick, and to get seriously ill when we do come down with something. Obviously, getting sick impairs our ability to care for others, and if we put off self-care until the worst happens, then we won’t be able to take care of anyone. So, it’s important to spend a little time on self-care now so we can continue taking care of the ones who need us for years (even decades) to come.
How to Find Time for Self-Care
Recognizing the importance of self-care is one thing, but what do we do about it? How can we possibly cram some time for ourselves into our already overstuffed schedules?
One way to do this is to outsource some of your responsibilities, and the easiest one to outsource is cleaning. Even cleaning a small home can be extremely time consuming and labor intensive, so why not hire someone else to do it so you can spend more quality time with your family? Whether you can afford to hire someone to come in every week, or just once a month, it’s important to make sure the responsibilities of maintaining a home don’t fall through the cracks, but it’s equally important to make sure you don’t fall through the cracks. So why not have a professional clean your home with the same love and care you have for it, while you give your love and care to the ones who matter most in your life?
