Self-love And Self-Care Is No Joke
In the daily grind and the hustle and bustle of our increasingly busy lives, we often forget to take a minute to stop, just breathe and simply ask ourselves how we’re doing.
The world has become faster and we’ve become used to being bombarded with so many stimuli and messages that much like our computer’s hard drives, our brains tend to overheat at the risk of completely malfunctioning. Stress and anxiety have become our constant companions in today’s day and age with our ever demanding lives overshadowing our own emotional and mental needs.
In a country like Pakistan, there’s other levels of social and cultural stresses and expectations that add onto this process and wreak havoc in our minds and our lives.
Some stress-inducing habits and activities, however, are part of a global trend that places the most importance on the accumulation of wealth and as a result, increased consumption of products and services. Capitalism has changed the way we interact with the world today and even how we deal with our internal issues. The stresses of work and the need to keep up with the cut-throat competition mean we have less and less time for some serious internal reflection.
This negligence of self-care and self-love is quite frankly extremely dangerous for our mental and physical well-being and takes a huge toll on our lifestyles. Skipping a few meals, pulling an all-nighter and even skipping out on socializing has become the norm for the modern individual because let’s face it, it seems like a small price to pay to stay ahead of the game right? Well, it’s all fun and games till your anxiety starts affecting your ability to perform daily activities and your stress make you unwell. Literally!
So, what can one do to avoid this modern dilemma?
Well, for starters, it is helpful to establish a balance between your work and personal lives because neither should negatively affect the other. It starts with little things such as managing time better to ensure that work is finished in the office and not brought along home with you. Your house should be a place for release and peace. Me time is no joke. Start doing the things you love like spending more time with your family or meditating or even catching up on some well-deserved sleep.
Another useful habit to try to understand is that you as an individual are important and deserve some time to yourself, a day off or even a vacation sometimes. Becoming a mindless robot is never on anyone’s bucket list and yet that’s what more and more of us end up stuck as. It’s not always easy to get out of this rut we keep falling into and that’s okay. Each person should be allowed to find their own balance at their own pace.
Finding that pace and comfort zone is however up to us. Only we can save ourselves. Practicing positive affirmations for ourselves and doubling down on the criticism we so readily give to ourselves is a great way to begin this journey of self-love.
It’s always easy to dismiss our own emotions and needs because we think we don’t know any better but that’s definitely not true and we need to bet on ourselves more often. Learning to laugh and appreciate the little things in life goes a long way as does taking out some personal time.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded and positive people who cherish you and only seek to bring you up is important! Indulging in meditative activities such as doing some yoga, reading our favourite books and even doing absolutely nothing are great ways to slow down and revel in serenity.
Realizing that existing is simply not enough and that to truly live one needs a sense of purpose and self-actualization. And accepting that money might not be the only way to attain those two things is really useful. Your body will thank you for incorporating more healthy food within your daily intake and you’ll feel better about it too.
