why self-care is trending

 Why Self-Care is Trending
 
When children are little their needs come first. If they are not attended to, fed, kept warm or cooled off, held and loved, they will die. Because women are still the ones who biologically hold the babies in their bodies, caring for them long before they are out into the night air able to cry, women are still seen as the main caretakers of the world.
 
This feeling of needing to care for other or they will die translates into all parts of our relationships. It enters our jobs, (they can’t lie without me) our relationships, (he/she’s such a baby when they are sick) our friends, (we live for each other) and even our parents, (who honor us when we care for them.)
 
We get our self-esteem, our love, our cuddles, and our feeling of good in this world often by caretaking for others. We are taught it is self-less-ness that makes a good person. We are taught to put others first (or the babies die.)
 
In this time of transition as women are not more and more the main bread winners in the family and parents are living longer and longer and children are not able to live on their own as young as they once did, this paradigm of women putting everyone before yourself can leave you completely and totally burnt out. You can become angry, mean, sick, and tired of being everything to everybody. At a certain point our bodies just give out.
 
That is why self-care is trending.
 
In order for a human body to function it needs a few things: sleep, food, stimulation, rest, and social interaction. Just like babies need to be fed, clothed, loved, played with, and put to sleep, so too do our bodies. Our bodies are like babies. They need us to take care of them just like we take care of everyone else’s bodies.
 
When we don’t, we aren’t any good to anyone. We get mean. We get angry. We get sad. We get sick. We get tired. We cannot function well. We lose who we are and get wrapped up in drama and negativity chaos that is not our own. We can even begin to over care take for others who don’t need it as a deflection of our own needs onto someone else. (We want them to feel good so we feel good.)
 
Self-care is not about spas. (Although lovely as that can be.) Self-care is as simple as getting a quick bite to eat on the way to see grandmother at the hospital even though it will mean you will be 5 minutes later than you said you would be. Self-care is putting down the social media at night and instead crawling into bed with some soft music so your mind has time to rest and reflect before you crash into sleep.
 
Self-care is pulling off to a park inbetween work and home to take a few deep breaths and process the day for a moment before walking into the house and being attacked by kids and their needs.
 
Self-care is brushing your teeth. Self-care is cutting your hair. Self-care is stepping outside at night to breath the cool air before going in to put the kids in bed. Self-care is trading in the real plants for fake ones so you don’t feel guilty not having time to water them. Self-care is asking a neighbor to watch the kids for a few hours and going for a jog all by yourself. Self-care is taking a walk in the woods. Self-care is calling a friend when you are feeling lost and lonely. Self-care is keeping trail mix in the car not just for your kids, but for yourself.
 
Self-care is loving yourself the way you did the children when they were (are) little.
 
You are as precious as those children! You are still the glue that holds the family together. You as a woman are still expected to be the caretaker, even if you run a fortune 500 company, the burden and blame societally is still on you. (Ironically even if it’s a dad who stays at home, if there isn’t a healthy snack at soccer, the judgment is still on you!)  The tides have not yet turned in our society to share the blame or responsibility for the caretaking of all.
 
Which is why self-care for women is trending right now. We need it. We need it more than ever! We need it in the worst way and in the simplest terms, Permission granted. Feed you. Let you sleep in! Breathe it in. Let social media go by the wayside. Let the kids be in their PJs all Sunday. Let you be in your PJs all Sunday! Take care of you.
 
And the rest? One day they will either learn how to take care of each other, or take care of themselves. For now, Happy Mother’s Day 2019 mom!
 
Thanks for all you are… and? All you do.

- Jeannine
 
 
Happy Mother’s Day!
 
 
- Jeannine Proulx
Author, Creative, Possibilities Life Coach, Supporter of Moms and Kids Everywhere,
and Founder of MindfulnessMothers.com


Explore. Discover. Be mindful of the moments that make up our lives!
www.mindfulnessmothers.com

- Jeannine Proulx
Author, Creative, Possibilities Life Coach, Supporter of Moms and Kids Everywhere,
and Founder of MindfulnessMothers.com


Explore. Discover. Be mindful of the moments that make up our lives!
www.mindfulnessmothers.com

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