We just wrapped up May which is Mental Health Awareness Month. Social media is booming with posts bringing awareness to the conversation around mental health. Some of the biggest buzzwords thrown around in this conversation are “self-love” and “self-care”, with tips on all the facials, meditations, and food to indulge in to focus on taking care of yourself. 

If you or a loved one is battling a health issue, it can be easy to miss your own needs in your physical, emotional, or mental health. What if, though, in all the focus on face masks and coffee runs, we’ve missed the whole point of self-care? 

Redefining self-care

What if self-care is less about periodically doing things for yourself and more so a way of life? 

The reality is, if we’re taking one day a week to make sure we’re healthy, we have 6 other days to go off track. Even if we take a moment to indulge in a bath or a yoga session, we’re spending the rest of our moments in the same unhealthy habits. 

It won’t change much for us in the long run. 

Long-term life change

On the other hand, If we live each day thinking about how all our decisions can allow for us to be the best version of ourselves, we’ll start to see all of our decisions change, not just a few isolated ones. 

Instead of thinking of self-care as a moment to be selfish, it is a way of life. It is the realization that if we live in health, it allows us to love well all those around us. Self-care isn’t meant to be selfish, it’s meant to be a way of life, living into all you are capable of being each day.  

Food, therapy, and rest are all tools, but you won’t use them well if you don’t first have the mindset of living each day with self-respect. 

This is what it all comes down to: Do you believe in yourself? Do you respect yourself enough to believe that your body, heart, and mind are all worth investing in? Do you believe that you are a valuable investment to the world? Then you will approach each day thinking about how best to strengthen, nourish, and fuel yourself, not just sustain yourself through one more day until the next moment of self-indulgence. 

Practical self-care tips

Practically, this may look like getting enough sleep every night, thinking about each meal you eat, the friendships you invest in, and the messages you surround yourself with, but it will always start with how you view yourself. 

If no one yet told you this today, you need to know: you are worth investing in. Knowing that may very well be the first step to true self-care.