Self-Care: Before asking “what”, you need to ask “why”?
Self-care, the act of practicing health promoting behaviors, is a term that has been thrown around quite a bit recently, and most of us want to know which self-care options should we be practicing. But, before we ask ourselves what we should be doing, we need to be asking why we should be doing it. In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek addresses the fact that in order for change to happen, we need to understand why we are changing (or not) and what the benefit will be. Do we have a reason for our “what’s” in the first place? In understanding the stages of change, or the transtheoretical model, it becomes apparent that what moves a “changer” from the Contemplation Stage (aware a problem exists, but not willing to change) to the Preparation Stage (getting ready to take steps towards change) to the Action Stage (taking change steps) is the motivation of why something is important enough to overcome inertia.
Several studies on patients with Diabetes (here and here) have demonstrated that the more patients understand the benefit of self-care behaviors, the more likely they are to perform them. When it comes to actually making changes in our care for our own selves, we need to understand and embrace the significance of these actions. A self-reported study of medical students found that the more students reported practicing self-care, the less perceived stress affected their quality of life. Chronic Diseases, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, greatly benefit from self-care when it is actually performed. The issue is that many people don’t fully realize the benefits, and revert back to just “taking a pill” instead of coupling it with supporting behaviors. Self-care is the difference between improving a condition and settling for a state of maintenance. Additionally, understanding snowballing concepts such as self-care for stress benefits blood pressure, which protects against heart disease adds increased value and importance to self-care behaviors.
So, before you make a list of 15 self-care behaviors you intend to implement tomorrow, come up with a list of 3 reasons why self-care is important to you and your situation. Evaluate them on a scale of 1 to 10. If your reason doesn’t rank a 7 or higher, re-evaluate and re-design. Think about what you are trying to achieve and why it is important to you. Make sure that your reasons are strong enough to push you into action. Then, after you are convinced of the benefits, start thinking about which self-care behaviors are going to react with your specific whys. If you are trying to manage blood sugar levels, deciding to indulge in some Stuffed Strawberries may be a better choice than lighting a candle and taking a bath. However, if you are aiming for stress relief, a soothing bath with epsom salts and a symphony of candles may be just the thing. If you start to feel guilty, just stop and tell yourself: it’s good for my heart.
