Have you heard the term self-care mentioned a time or two? How does it make you feel? Do you shrug your shoulders and say, “Self-care? Who on earth has time for that?!”

Many people in the Christian and activist world lack a self-care discipline. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard people speak about feeling guilty for practicing self-care. Audre Lorde, the awesome civil rights, womanist, badass black activist once said, “Self-care is not about indulgence. It’s about self-preservation.”

Can I get an “Amen, Awoman”!?!

All the spiritual gurus of world religions practiced self-care. Jesus often broke away from his disciples to pray, meditate, or contemplate on his own. He could not constantly give himself to others, performing healings for the sick and advocating rights for the marginalized, without a serious self-care regime.

We all should be celebrating the work we do on this earth, whatever that is. Whether you’re an activist, nurse, stay at home mother, CEO president, theater major, tax accountant – you deserve a little self-care. Those who are healing from trauma are statistically known as the worst at offering themselves self-care, which is one of the reason I decided to vlog about the topic today.

Self-care is something I have spent years cultivating, and I still don’t do it well all of the time (as you can see by this video). But the beautiful thing about learning self-care is that even when I’m not offering myself proper self-care, I am now so much quicker at catching that fact and saying “no” to a project or dropping my paper for a quick hike or spending a Friday night alone instead of at the bar socializing. I’m much more able to put a stop to destructive behaviors and seek out what my body, spirit, and heart need.

(Sorry for the funny little moment where I got totally spooked by people walking up behind me! I didn’t want to re-record the whole thing so I just spliced two videos together. I hope it’s more funny than it is distracting. 🙂 )

I think I’ll focus the next few vlogs on different methods of self-care, and how I began incorporating them into my life. As I mention in this vlog, self-care is a deeply personal thing. What works for me may not work for you! I absolutely love nature, maybe you hate bugs. I thrive on meditation, maybe you thrive on a run.

For the remainder of this week, I invite you to explore what gives you joy and fills you up. When you find out what that is, add it into your daily routine. You don’t have to spend hours doing it. You can just start with a simple 10 minutes.

As always, you’re welcome to share with me what your self-care regime looks like, what struggles you have, or your own perspectives–maybe you think this whole self-care thing is bologna! I welcome that opinion, too.

Regardless, take care of you. You are important.

Be you, be true, be love.