Make Self-Care a Part of Your Life

Today I’m going to begin a short series on the subject of Self Care. Everyone today seems to be preoccupied with self-care especially on social media. This may seem a self-indulgent preoccupation but really the truth is … it’s not.

 It is a deeply serious and respectful way to treat your body thus, yourself. It is not anywhere near selfishness in a negative way, but a spiritual honoring of the body and life God has given us. "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" …well stated directly from Gods’ Word .

"Self-care is not a selfish thing. Unless you begin to worship yourself, become proud arrogant and haughty about it and thinking you are better than other people because of it..."

Let's keep those ingredients out of it and we will be alright, keeping self-care in its proper perspective. For example the Bible said the love of money is the root of all evil, notice the love of it, is what gets one into murky waters and lost and in trouble. If you begin to love and worship your money, producing greed, yes I can see the problems coming along the way into the future. You will eventually be trapped by that kind of love. So keep proper perspective of things in your life especially your money and self-care. Remember Satan was once a beautiful angel in heaven until he tripped over his own beauty and became haughty, puffed up and proud because of it. He took one-third of the angels with him but remember God had two-thirds that remained loyal in humility. The bottom line is to take your self-care seriously and not for granted but keep it all in proper perspective.

What is Self-Care?

        I can tell you first what self-care is not. It is not putting others needs first and above your own. It is not people pleasing. It is not being passive/aggressive. It is not responding with the word YES every time someone makes a request of you. Self-care, is putting time with God first in reading his word and spending time in prayer daily. It is putting yourself second from that by attending to your own personal needs whether it is taking a shower, drinking a cup of coffee, whatever it may be to help you begin your day.

        Jenny woke up every morning trudging out of bed into the kitchen and putting coffee on for her husband. She got the pots and pans out to begin making breakfast, still weary and not quite awake she began laying bacon in the pan and putting it on low, she than began mixing eggs and other items into the egg mix to make scrambled eggs, the toast was popped into the toaster, butter out of the fridge and utensils on the table. She was only able to take two sips of her coffee until breakfast was nearly made sitting on the table ready for everyone to eat. Her coffee had gone cold; she threw it in the microwave to warm it up then sat down to breakfast with her family. After they were all off, she finally sat down to read her Bible. Exhausted from her busy morning, she involuntarily nodded off to sleep.

Does this sound like someone who is practicing self-care to you? No, she’s putting everyone else first and this may just be her husband, or it may be her husband and two or three kids but either way she's not taking care of her own needs first. She is putting everyone and everything before herself and before God.

        Jane is on an airplane going to visit her parents. Beside her is Sally her five year old. The lights on the plane begin flashing … snap on her seatbelts and the oxygen mask falls down in front of her; what does she do? Specific directions are given by the airline that if this should happen you are to give yourself oxygen first no one else not even your five year old. Sounds horrible right? However, it is necessary because if she helps her five year old first and she herself passes out she's good for nothing. Her little child is left helpless. You cannot help anyone else unless you take care of yourself first.

        John is driving with Stephen around a foggy bend and loses control of his car and goes off the bend. The car rolls down the side of the cliff and down into the ocean. As the car begins to sink into the water, John wakes up and tries to get out. He sees Stephen laying there unconscious bleeding but he himself can’t breathe. He manages to get the window rolled down quickly and pulls himself out of the window, but he needs air. John has to rise to the surface to get a gulp of air before he can go back down and see if he can get Stephen out of the car. Diving down he reaches Stephen and swims thru the open window to unbuckle him and pull him out. He Feels like his eyeballs are going to explode from holding his breath so long. He struggles to pull Stephen out and up with him and manages to reach the surface. Lungs nearly exploding he gasps for air. He wraps his arm around Stephen’s neck and is able to pull them both to safety. He begins CPR, his friend comes to and by the grace of God they are both safe. Now, tell me what would have happened if John had not taken care of himself first? Possibly many things … and not so good things; Stephen may have died and John as well.

        This reminds me of a scripture in the word of God about, "The blind leading the blind.” If your eye is not right how can you lead others? You will both fall into a ditch; good advice for all of us. There are many people who have problems of their own, yet they don't work on them. They want to help you with yours. How does that work for anyone? Answer is, it doesn't. Take care of your own issues, take care of yourself; then and only then can you help others with theirs. If you take some time to think about this, you will find it is somewhat hypocritical to try to tell someone else how to live their life when you have no idea how to live your own. Success breeds more success.

        My husband has worked in the Cogeneration and Power industry most of his working career. He has been exposed to the dangers of  Anhydrous  and Aqueous Ammonia during the course of is work. There are strict safety protocols in place which are as follows  If you see one of your coworkers down from ammonia leaking you are to not run in to get him out of the ammonia cloud, you must put on protective gear, clothing, goggles, face mask, etc., before entering to get him out. Ammonia will cause a person to pass out and can cause death. So … if the other guy on duty runs into save him he will pass out. Then the next man will rush in and so on and so forth; no one wins here.  You must follow the safety protocols set up before hand; suit up and protect yourself first before going in to help your coworker. Is this selfishness?  No. Is this self-care? Yes.

Bottom Line, take care of yourself first!

That’s enough for today, next time we will get into some practical ways of how to do self-care.

Bye for now,

Beca