Self-Care: The best kind of work

We’re no strangers to ‘fixing ourselves’, from meditation and crystals to essential oils. And hey, those have been around since the 1960’s.

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself,” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841.

We seem to be shifting away from the actual self — our bodies, minds, and spirits — and toward data about ourselves. We expect our steps to be counted, our REM cycles to be recorded, and our breathing patterns to be measured. It’s not enough to just feel better — we need our devices to reward us and remind us of how good we are and how hard we work. I’ll let you in on a little secret…we’re already good.

Do you think we are really interested in feeling healthier and happier, or just adding to a to-do list? Are we really just trying to ‘optimize’ ourselves instead of actually just being?
Self-improvement can bear a closer resemblance to work than to leisure. Don’t treat meditation as a step needed to achieve the elusive goal of work-life balance. It’s not a checklist item. It’s a way of being.

Your goal should be to create space for YOU, to experience curiosity and explore without pressure. Take a few conscious breaths during your commute, or set an intention for your day before you leave the house.  And you can take a breath any damn time you want. Just breathe in and let it flow. It’s there. You can do it. Trust me. And hey, you might find some emotions along the way. You might experience your life more deeply versus just rushing from one place to another. Chew the food, see the clouds, drink in the cool water. It’s all there for you to explore. So dive in. And you don’t need a FitBit to tell you that — it’s a feeling, not a technology designed to tell you that you suck or don’t suck.

Remember: There is nothing inherently virtuous about torturing yourself.

And you don’t need green juice at $9 a pop, and luxury spin classes at $35+. There are infinite opportunities for personal growth, self-care, and genuine stress relief that don’t require money or clenched fists, but instead enable us to take a genuine break from goal-oriented and metric-driven thinking. Like:

Cutting yourself some slack when you’re not as productive, or having a good laugh, or allowing yourself the time to reflect on something that just happened. 

For better or for worse, you’re the one that can make YOU feel better. No app can do that.