Self-Care in 2022 Part 2

Mark Mwandoro
Marketing Director
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January marks the first month of the year, and it's the perfect time to start the year right; out with the bad, in with the good. The start of a new year contains a lot of positivity, good energy, and good vibes. A new year equals new beginnings, and it brings with it new and countless possibilities. This year too, 2022, it will surely be so.

2022, hopefully, will be a dose of fresh air from all the illness, loss, job precariousness, and isolation that were a result of COVID 19. How about making 2022 about connecting with the self, personal growth, and self-improvement?

Self-care is working on yourself by ensuring you are healthy mentally, physically, and spiritually. It is not to be confused with selfishness and self-indulgence. While many of us have a lot going on in our lives, we must take time out every day to care for ourselves. 

Amid an epidemic, anxiety and depression have drastically gone up. People feel lonelier, wound up, and face the tension that makes them get stressed even at the smallest of tasks. Self-care is part of the solution to better coping with the stressors in our daily life. According to google trends, the search for self-care has more than doubled since 2015 (Lawler, 2021). 

As part of self-care, you sit down with yourself, ask yourself how you are doing and what your body needs. Our self-care routines are very personal, and what works for one person may not work for another. The best practice is to find what works best for you. Taking care of ourselves helps us put our best foot forward in all the tasks we may undertake. Even when not faced with a job, we are calm and generally happy. Self-care doesn't have to be expensive; it could be taking a walk, showering with soap with a scent you love, getting a manicure, or just sitting alone with yourself listening to your thoughts. Enduring self-care practices link to longevity and better health. 

Part of the Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum™ is to hone in our personal stories. We use ethnodrama to guide our students and clients in reflecting on how they have formed their identities, cultures, and systems for self-care. They acquire powerful frameworks for their care, for civic discourse, and for socially just action.  "We need to remove the stigma that being kind to and taking care of ourselves is self-indulgent or selfish," (Lawler, 2021).

Works Cited
Lawler, M. (2021, May 19). Selfcare. Retrieved from EVERYDAY HEALTH: https://www.everydayhealth.com/self-care/