Introduction to self-care

Let’s now talk about how we can look after ourselves. If we employ elements of self-care, we can enhance our capacity to deal with stressors and to maintain our resilience. But it seems to often we have to sacrifice our own well-being in order to achieve success. There is some evidence that perhaps we look after our pets and our plants better than we look after ourselves, and really, there’s no excuse for this sort of approach. So what can we do? Well, we would advocate using self as an acronym. The SELF in self-care, S is for sleep, E is for exercise, L is for learning, and F is for food and nutrition. Clearly, we are going to be giving some generic principles here.

And some people may need to consult a medical professional or a lifestyle specialist. But let’s not underestimate the benefit of small changes multiplied by doing them often. There can be substantial benefits and gains if we take this approach.