03/03/2022
I just thought I'd post a little reminder today to not be so hard on yourself. You're just a human being, doing the best you can.
As if a global pandemic wasn't enough, we're now witnessing the devastating news of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, amongst the many continuing wars across the globe. News like this can make us feel unsafe, fearful, anxious and helpless.
Along with those feelings can come guilt ('thank God it's not me'), confusion ('what can I really do?') and disappointment ('why am I not doing more?')
I often reflect on this myself - what am I doing and why does my own self-care practice even matter when things like this are going on? It seems insignificant, futile and downright ridiculous at points.
But, of course, there is a reason for self-care, and holy moly there's a whole world of science behind it. So I can tell you this now, self-care is definitely the right place to start. Because the healthier and more stable you are, the more support you can be not only for yourself, but for your parents, your children, your siblings and your friends, for other people, and those other people can then be the support for more people, and like a constant drip it can eventually make it's way to creating the help that is needed, building resilience throughout your community. We most definitely cannot fight all the fights alone. And we definitely can't do it if we're burnt out.
I know self-care is a buzz word and you may have just rolled your eyes at it, but I'm not saying you have to practice yoga every day, or meditate every morning, or spend time every evening writing down things you're grateful for. Truly practicing self-care means taking your time, not being so hard on yourself, accepting who you are (and therefore who other people are) and giving yourself some breathing space. In time, this practice will boost your morale, increase your productivity and will give you the strength to help others.
So take a moment. Realise you are one human. And remind yourself you're doing the best you can. Keep on keeping on, and give yourself the time out you need to make your world feel more secure. However that might be.
