How do you make time for self-care?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to keep showing up for everyone else while slowly and quietly running out on yourself.

I’m learning that self-care isn’t always about doing things that make me feel good. Sometimes, it is about doing the things I need to do to protect myself.

For me, self-care is simply self-preservation – knowing when I need to take a step back, giving myself permission to rest without feeling guilty, saying NO without feeling like I am disappointing someone, removing myself from toxic spaces and people, working smarter and not harder, and choosing my peace when something or someone is draining me.

I’m learning that I don’t have to be available all the time. I don’t have to explain everything I do or every decision I make and I certainly don’t have to keep giving from a place that is already empty.

I used to think taking care of myself meant putting myself first, but I’m beginning to see it differently. Sometimes, it simply means not abandoning myself while trying to be there for everyone else.

And perhaps, that is the most important forms of self-care; learning to preserve the person that I am while becoming the person I am meant to be.

Let me borrow a verse from the Holy Book:

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place of and get some rest.”  Mark 6:31

Even Jesus acknowledged the need to step away and rest. So perhaps taking a step back isn’t always running away. Sometimes, it is simply making room to breathe, recover and return to yourself.

Sometimes, self-care is not about doing more. Sometimes, it is about knowing when to pause and preserve what is left of you.