Self Care? I wondered how this would be part of coaching. I realized it had EVERYTHING to do with coaching. Coachng is all about fulfilling your own needs and getting to the core of the matter. Self Care is the action that gets you there.
I discovered self-care after having my two children. In the first couple of years, they were all I cared about. I didn’t do much for myself. It was so easy to not worry about me, they needed constant attention. It wasn’t until I went out to a social gathering and realized the only thing I had to talk about was my children. I was not surrounded by too many other moms, and I really longed for regular conversation outside of children. Don’t get me wrong, children are wonderous and beautiful that deserve a lot of attention and maybe even more so these days. But my only sense of self was through them. I realized I needed to change that. That’s when I found Self Care. How great it was. At first it did seem selfish. I felt guilty and worried about them the whole time I was away. Then I realized that they were actually benefiting from my absence. It was a chance for them to experience the world without me and to forge relationships with other family members and friends.
When looking at self care it may seem selfish, but in a bigger sense, it’s quite selfless. Taking care of yourself means you can take care of those around you. As they say on the airplane prior to taking off the runway: “When the oxygen masks fall, place yours on first then help your child or those around you.” Self care is a good breath of oxygen to your life.
