World Self-Care Day – 24th July 2021
Self-care has become a bit of a buzzword, hasn’t it? Sometimes bandied around without much thought, in such a way that I think the real meaning behind it has been somewhat lost.
Is a bath instead of a shower, self-care? Is self-care taking five minutes at home to apply lipstick in front of a mirror instead of hurriedly doing it in the car?
Too often, our basic needs as women, mothers and human beings in general fall by the wayside to the ever changing and growing demands of our families, our careers and everything else that we’re juggling. We end up thinking that the most basic things fall under the bracket of self-care – when instead aren’t they just basic self-respect?
Don’t we deserve that extra five minutes to make ourselves look and feel our best on a daily basis? Don’t we deserve to eat a proper meal instead of picking at leftovers from our children’s plates or grabbing a sandwich from the services.
We do it for everyone else – why not ourselves?
It looks different to everyone – but I think self-care is about more than the everyday.
It’s about allowing yourself time to reconnect with your passions. With the things that light you up and ignite that fire. It’s about not saving things for ‘best’ and instead lighting that expensive candle or wearing the fancy perfume – because you deserve to ENJOY it. It’s about standing in front of the mirror every night and making your skincare a ritual, not a chore and not something you rush through because you have a million other things to do. Sometimes it’s about ignoring the laundry pile and instead sitting in chair, with something to read, something to drink and NOTHING else to do.