As a parent and/or carer, your own needs are often at the bottom of the list and almost never a priority. Although many of us know self-neglect may lead to burn out, self-care is still often viewed as a guilty pleasure. Given the invaluable role they play in society, we need to care about the carers, ensuring they feel valued and value themselves.
When going through the emergency rules, the flight attendant on a plane instructs us to put on our own oxygen mask first, ensuring we’re fit enough to support others if needed. How can we help others if we’re struggling to breathe ourselves?
Imagine the positive impact on our wellbeing if we made this flight rule one of our essential life rules. Research by the New Economics Foundation found there are five ways to promote your mental wellbeing and strengthen your resilience. What self-care looks like to one person may look totally different to another. That’s OK, all that matters is you develop self-care routines and practices that work for you, helping reduce some of the stress in your bucket/container. Regularly reducing your stress levels helps increase your capacity to deal with the challenges you face, some predictable and some not.
Our take on the stress bucket/container, developed from an idea by Brabban and Turkington (2002), provides food for thought on dealing with stress.
The five ways to wellbeing encourage us to view selfcare as an essential life practice that enhances wellbeing, teaching us to use our oxygen mask proactively rather than waiting until we’re mentally and physically exhausted.
Take a look at the five ways to wellbeing resources produced by Health in Mind. Think about some of the things you currently do or could start doing in each area to positively support your wellbeing, helping reduce the stress levels in your bucket/container, so it’s not constantly full to overflowing.
Remember…Self-care is not selfish.