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Self Care
Self Care
Over time, the intense cognitive load takes a toll if you don’t stop
and do something intentional about it to change the pace and
direction of your life.
The excessive hard work habit is already bad enough in Japan that
there is now legislation in place to limit the number of hours
employees can be expected to work and require workers to take at
least five vacation days a year.
A self-care challenge
To prioritise self-care, challenge yourself to explore more ways to
take care of your self in the next 30 days whilst you still focus on
delivering your best work every day.
To make the process easy to adopt, you can prioritise some of
these activities in your schedule: take a long evening walk, dance
to good music, enjoy a good meal with close relations, go to your
favourite coffee shop and order a special drink and mindfully
enjoy it, take piano, drawing or painting lessons, read (reread)
your favourite book, start a journaling habit, sit in nature, or do a
relaxing activity you’ve always wanted to do.
Aim for activities that are not triggers for other tasks. Plan to be
present and aware of what is driving your actions.
When you create a self-care plan, you are saving yourself from
being completely sucked into a cycle that only ends in stress.
You can even keep a “self-care journal” and record the steps you
are taking each day to recharge and replenish. You can also
document what’s working and not working for you to improve or
change when necessary.
Once you understand the size of your time budget, you can allocate
both work and personal care activities better.
Key takeaway
Taking care of your basic physical and emotional needs should
really be the backbone for getting stuff done.
Learn to treat yourself with respect, and listen to what your body
needs and wants. Poor self-care has damaging consequences on
your health.
Self-care isn’t one-size-fits-all. Do more of what works for you.
Make it personal. Make your needs a priority to be better prepared
to help others.