TLDR: Your wellness and taking care of yourself matters! You can’t pour from an empty glass. If you are constantly taking care of others and not giving back to yourself, eventually your body will burn out on you and you will be “forced” to take a break. Making time for our wellness, which can look different for everybody, helps us to keep ourselves from getting sick and having to take time off to get better.
The body has a way of keeping track of things and making us know when we need a break. We can push and push ourselves through more and more, but eventually it will all catch up to us. Have you ever heard the saying “make time for your wellness, otherwise you will make time for your illness”? Wellness can look different for everybody. It can be meditation, exercise, reading, movies, playing with your kids, taking a hot shower or bubble bath to relax. There’s all of these sayings that encourage people to take care of themselves. “You can’t pour from an empty glass”. “Make time for your wellness, otherwise you will make time for your illness”. “Put your oxygen mask on before somebody else’s”. And so on and so forth.
But what does this all mean? Can the body really know when to tell us we need a break? Yep! There is only so much energy that we can expend before we can’t give any more. If we are not replenishing and taking that time for ourselves to replenish that energy, eventually we are so tired and worn out and burnt out that we are barely a functioning version of ourselves. How does this show up? It can show up in severe tiredness/exhaustion/fatigue, or an actual physical illness where we are sick, mental illness, anxiety, anger, depression, loss of interest in things that you enjoy, and the list can go on and on. Our brains and bodies have a way of telling us when we need a break, we just have to be listening to the body. Which is easier said than done of course, but it is necessary.
As an example, a few weeks ago I had been going non-stop for a couple of weeks straight. I was on my last day of going straight through, I had 5 clients to see that day and then I was going to be able to take 2 days off for the weekend. I was headed out the door of my home when all of a sudden I twisted my ankle and fell. I tried to get up and keep going but I just couldn’t do it. I was in too much pain and just didn’t feel good. So I last minute had to cancel all of my clients that day, which I hate doing, and then spent the rest of the day on the couch with my ankle elevated with ice on it and resting all day long. All weekend actually, I just hung out and rested and took naps and took it as easy as possible, making sure to hydrate and eat well. After a few days, I started to feel better and while it still took a little bit longer to get back to being able to workout and get into more of a routine again for myself.
It is hard to put yourself first in most situations. But there are always reminders that we need to be taking care of ourselves. If we aren’t taking care of ourselves, then how do we take care of our loved ones and/or the people that we care about for work? Self-care IS selfish and it is OKAY to be selfish and to take care of ourselves first. Take the time to be selfish and put yourself first and to be able to decisions that are best for your health and wellness, so that you don’t have to make time for your wellness.
Don’t end up like me with a twisted ankle! Take care of yourself before then!
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Dr. Katie
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