Why Self Care Is So Important In This Season

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Now more than ever, we as women should have a self-care routine in place. If you don't have one set up... honey, what are you waiting for? Especially during this season, with a global pandemic and the fallout from it, our lives being totally upended, and the added pressure of having to readjust how we do things. The older I've gotten—I'll be fifty-three in a few months—the more I've learned it is no longer considered an option, but an essential. It's just as important as brushing my teeth or breathing, for that matter. Yeah, it's that serious and I don't allow anyone to mess with it.

God created us as a whole being, and I strongly believe in holistic coaching (coaching the whole woman). All parts of us make up who we are and they all matter, but if we keep ignoring some of those parts, we'll always be out of alignment with who we truly are. Besides, if Jesus cares about our wellbeing, we should be mindful to do the same.

Many women often see self care as a luxury, when in fact it plays a major role in our wellness and us living a longer and more fulfilling life. And without proper self-care, we could end up stressed, exhausted, and unhappy. Look at it this way, self-care is all about renewing our minds, bodies, souls, and spirit. For the next few minutes, I'll discuss how not making our well-being our number one priority can prove detrimental to our mental and physical health, and some signs to look for indicating you may need an intervention now. And if you find yourself slipping into any of these, stop what you're doing, and start a self-care routine ASAP.

Because today is International Women's Day (and my little sister's birthday, lol), and March is Women's History Month, what better time to discuss our personal care and maintenance than now? So for the next four weeks, I'll be doing a series on all things 'self-care'. So let's get started with some consequences of not having a wellness routine in place for yourself and why you may need to start one, sooner than later..

Stress and Exhaustion

These are some of the first signs showing you need to love on yourself just a wee-bit more. When you aren't taking care of yourself, you'll leave yourself exposed to stress and exhaustion. This can lead to burnout and a feeling of resentment. For instance, your exhaustion could stem from you taking care of everyone else and putting their needs before yours, which many of us women so often do. And over time, if you continue this cycle and don't include taking care of yourself (in the process) you could end up resenting those you're actually taking care of, which isn't beneficial to anyone. I don't care who you are, if you're constantly exhausted and stressed out, it's impossible to maintain a positive outlook. Taking care of yourself allows you to take care of others effectively.

Your Personal Hygiene Suffers

A result of you not having a consistent self-care routine, is that your personal hygiene begins to slip. This is especially true for those who suffer from depression. When you're depressed or feeling low, your self-care and wellbeing are the last things on your mind. And in severe cases, you could spend days in bed, failing to do the basic task, such as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. The problem with this is that failing to take care of yourself leads you to feeling worse, and this causes a domino effect. And we know what happens after that... everything starts to spiral out of control. Maintaining self-care is crucial to your mental health and well-being.

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May Lead To Unhealthy Habits

Not having a self-care routine can lead to you finding other ways of comforting yourself. It could be binge eating junk food, laying in bed all day, isolating yourself, or worse, drinking. You may think these are good ways to escape or that they'll make you feel better, but in reality they're not good for you at all. When you turn to unhealthy habits for comfort, this normally leads to additional issues, which can cause you and your life to take a downward spiral. Most often you'll start feeling miserable, which leads to you going down a rabbit hole of things that make you feel better in all the wrong ways.

Weight Gain

You might not have figured this one into the 'self-care' equation, but typically, we gain weight because we're not properly taking care of ourselves. Think about it. One way many people incorporate self-care into their lives is as simple as having a dedicated exercise routine or a healthy eating regimen. This, in turn, keeps you feeling good about yourself and makes you want to continue. It's very easy to let pounds creep up on you when you're not consciously thinking about it. We've all been there and know the more weight we gain, the unhappier we become, which makes loosing that weight that more difficult. So focus on self-care to avoid this possible challenge.

You Never Feel Good Enough

Self-care is something you do because you are worth it! So if you fail to take care of yourself, you can start to feel as if you're never good enough and not deserving of putting your wellbeing at the top of your list. Because you're constantly tired and trying to juggle all the responsibilities you have, you may feel like you're a failure or you simply don't measure up to everyone else. This can start a vicious cycle of you beating yourself up and thinking what's the use. And when our thoughts go there, the rest of our being goes there too. So it's important that we never allow ourselves to go to that place.

Now these are only a few examples of what could happen when you don't set up a self-care plan for yourself and why it's important to do so. And when you don't, the effects could be serious. Stay tuned next week for the next post in this series on self-care, where I'll be discussing why we as women often fail when it comes to taking care of ourselves and some simple ways you can put an end to that 'stinkin thinkin'. Also, stay around until the end of the series so you can get my free download, "The Women's Guide to Self-Care". And until next week, remember to 'do you well' by making you a priority!

Ephesians 2:10; 5:29, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; 10:31, 3 John 1:2, Mark 6:31

All Rights Reserved copyright© 2012-2021 michellpulliam.com "The Cultured Life" blog by Michell Pulliam

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