Self-Care and Wellness

April is Counseling Awareness Month, and one of the focuses was on the importance of self-care. Self-care is a very necessary, often neglected aspect of many counselor’s lives. Because we spend our days caring for others, it is easy to forget to care for ourselves. Self-care is when a person decides to makes a conscious act to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health.  Self-care is routine, it is the activities you do to maintain your wellness on a regular basis.

I recently had the opportunity to serve as a panelist on a wellness summit, and it was a great experience! Ironically, some of the topics that we talked about were how our physical health impacts our mental health, stress management, and….you guessed it: SELF-CARE. Self-care will look different for everyone. For example, I like to go for walks in nature daily, get massages monthly, and spend time alone to recharge among other things. But, I have friends who enjoy a daily bike ride, running, playing video games, getting their hair and nails done, and cooking a new meal. Self-care is not a “one-size-fit-all” type of thing; you should find and do things that make a positive impact on how you feel.

One of the big takeaways from my participation in the wellness summit was that constantly striving, achieving, and working without making time for rest can be counterproductive to overall health. We should add taking care of ourselves to our “to-do” lists.

I am a big advocate for managing my health through self-care methods because I know all to well how negatively stress can affect me. If you are a person who is constantly “moving and shaking”, then self-care is important for you too! It doesn’t matter if you are a health care professional, or an accountant…you deserve to feel and be well!