The Concept Of Self Care

Personal accountability is a concept that is generally understood and accepted. We must answer for our actions. Explanations or excuses need to be both sensible and convincing. And if we do not believe the account we are giving we can hardly expect that the general public will find it adequate. Self knowledge then is key to personal accountability.

As important but less understood is the concept of self care. It’s when we put the time and effort into knowing ourselves that we identify our own weaknesses, short-comings and fears. While it’s reasonable to take guidance from those around us accumulating strategies and suggestions and even embracing their encouragement, implementation is still very much a personal issue. What we do with what we know is personal. No-one can do it for us.

We neglect self care at our own peril and yet there are those who avoid the issue. There are times when the “maintenance of me” is altogether too daunting. Deliberate ignorance, however, is a long way from bliss.

An industry has been built around the topic of physical self care. We are urged to put  effort into looking better, feeling better and living better. The changes we can make are obvious because they are generally manifested externally. Seeing is believing.

Far more complex are both emotional and spiritual self care. While they are interlinked and intertwined in many respects it’s the heart that controls the emotional while the head controls the spiritual. Feeling is believing.

A guiding principle in the life we live should always be striving to be the best version of ourselves that it is possible to be. Sudden and drastic change is less likely than incremental change. Neither is possible without adequate and ongoing self care.

It’s when we understand the who we are that the why will become obvious.