The “self-care” truth

In a world where women are told to think self-care looks like spas, gym memberships, marathon training and “one more committee commitment”, maybe, just maybe

the daily running outside to play tag with your child

the hours on your feet to meal prep because food is a language

checking homework for concepts you must immediately study

Investigating the psyche of your maturing oldest child

musings about the sensitivities of your youngest

the 5 minute run to the bedroom with your spouse because 5 minutes is what you have

the phone chat with your sister who is nervously navigating pain

engagement with your kids over toy sharing and asking yourself why a child feels defensive

…well, all of this is a type of “self-care”.

How? you might ask

I think the alternative scenario is that we turn off something inside of us that calls/is calling for us to answer

I have a deep belief that we ARE/WERE built for this.

I know this is not a popular feminist statement.

I promise that I am not talking about being a doormat. That verbiage is used to assuage the guilt of the fearful and power seekers.

The ability to notice, react, care, engage, invest in others, wow, what a privilege.

We get to choose that.

We may not get and have “followers”, but we may have real relationships with our family and friends.

Maybe in a world where fake is fawned over and the internet massages the dopamine hit of a “like” or follow, we can step back and notice the joyous simplicity; a sunset, conversations that happen (not on camera), the gift of REAL life!

The workouts, spas and committees aren’t the problem, but hey, they also aren’t the solution.

I guess I’ll step off of the soapbox to step onto my rebounder. 😉

Gotta go “take care of myself” 😉