Why You Should Take Your Self-Care More Seriously

How I Realized That Being Imperfect Beats Being a Hypocrite

Recently, I found myself in a hotel room in Helsinki, desperately trying to unwind after a long week of work-related travel. It was a Thursday night, and while I was exhausted, my to-do list wasn’t technically done. 

I host a weekly Facebook Live session on my nutrition coaching page. Every Thursday, I tune in to offer tips, advice, and insights to my audience around living a healthier lifestyle. It’s a casual time to connect with folks on my page—but casual or not, I am pretty religious about making sure it happens every single Thursday.

This particular Thursday though, I was struggling. It was late. My brain was fried. And when I looked at my notes for the topic I intended to discuss, I couldn’t help but scoff at myself:

Why it’s important to recharge your batteries and prioritize your self-care.

Maybe it’s dramatic, but I felt like a hypocrite. How could I go live and talk to my audience about how important it is to take care of yourself when I myself was feeling spread way too thin?

Long story short, I ultimately made the decision to postpone my live chat until Friday. I recognized that what I really needed was some quality sleep—so I gave myself permission to be a little imperfect that day. 

I showed up on my page the next day, feeling well-rested and much more present. I shared my story of choosing self-care with my viers. Nobody batted an eyelash about the scheduling change.

What You Can Learn From This Story

Why am I telling you all this? It’s not because I think you’re fascinated by my travel schedule or my anxieties around scheduling. It’s because we all have moments like these in our daily lives: Experiences where we’re forced to decide between prioritizing our self-care versus living up to vague, perfectionistic expectations we set for ourselves.

It’s not always as cut and dry as that, but this week, I want to challenge you to take every possible opportunity to simply recharge your batteries.

Recharging your batteries is a crucial part of living a healthy lifestyle. While we tend to think of our mental health as secondary to our physical health, the truth is that your healthy nutrition and movement choices count for much less if your stress levels are through the roof. 

Next time you’re faced with an opportunity to choose productivity or self-care, I hope you’ll CHOOSE YOU. Even if you’re only able to carve out five minutes for me-time here and there, I think you’ll be really surprised by what an impact the decision to consciously recharge can have on your overall wellbeing.