CEBU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

TAKING CARE OF THE SELF:

The Need for Self-care and Compassion

QUIMADA, JOAN A .
BSNED 1-10B

MARIEBETH CABANIT
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

MARCH 11, 2022

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INTRODUCTION

Self-care is simply defined as an activity that you engage in to maintain or improve

your physical, mental, or emotional well-being. It is done to alleviate anxiety and improve
one's mood. Self-care can include things like eating healthier and better, jogging, having a
skin care regimen, drinking water, and generally taking care of your body, skin, and mind. It
all boils down to self-love. Self-care is necessary because it helps you to take time to reflect
on yourself and maintain a positive relationship with yourself. We are sometimes so
preoccupied with the people around us that we forget that we, too, deserve the same care
and affection we provide to others. This boosts your self-esteem and confidence. Because of
society and the media, we usually compel ourselves to look a specific way. This will only
make you feel less content with your own physique and increase insecurities, both of which
are detrimental to one's mental health. Don't do something only to prove yourself or to gain
acceptance from society. Although emphasizing self-care may seem obvious, especially
when considering longevity, it's typically the first thing to go when we're faced with adversity,
whether it's because of poor health, a financial crisis, job loss, divorce, or, as is the case
now, the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why, especially in difficult circumstances, it is critical to
maintain it in the forefront of our minds rather than as an afterthought. There is an underlying
assumption that we must always be active in a society where individuals are expected to
work long hours and forego vacation days, which might take away opportunities for self-care.
However, by taking some time to participate in self-care, you can reduce the pressures of
everyday life and reset yourself to a healthy state where productivity may be restored.
Considering the expenses of mental health treatments, lost earnings, and other factors,
investing in oneself may benefit everyone in the long run.

Self-care has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression,
reduce stress, improve concentration, limit irritation and anger, promote happiness, improve
energy, and more. You're recharging your batteries so you can be the best version of
yourself for others around you. The revitalized energy and excitement you radiate help
everyone around you. Self-care allows you to better manage stress and prioritize your
priorities. When you take time to care for yourself, you'll be better able to care for others.
That is when compassion enters the picture. Compassion fosters emotional intelligence and
well-being by allowing us to connect with people, restore connections, and move forward.
Compassion goes a step farther than empathy since it is motivated by a wish for all people
to be free of pain and a desire to help. In the face of adversity, compassion is just a warm,
pleasant presence. Its strength comes from the fact that it connects us to what is difficult—it
offers us an alternative to the customary retreat. We start with empathy, or the sense of
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being connected. Something beautiful happens when we can recognise the commonality of
the human condition: we lessen the subtle brutality of apathy. Self-compassion is essential
for most organizations and people that desire to grow. Personal growth is frequently
associated with dedication, perseverance, and hard effort, but it often begins with
introspection. One of the most important prerequisites for self-improvement is a truthful
assessment of our current situation—both our strengths and limitations. When we convince
ourselves that we are better than we are, we get complacent, and when we believe we are
worse than we are, we become defeated. People are better able to arrive at genuine
self-appraisals when they treat themselves with compassion, which is the foundation for
progress. They are also more motivated to work on their flaws rather than thinking to
themselves, "What's the point?" " and to summon the tenacity needed to improve skills and
break undesirable habits.

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DISCUSSION

Mental health encompasses our emotional, psychological, and social well-being, just
as physical health encompasses a variety of variables and components. Whether dealing
with daily stress or managing major mental health challenges, taking time for self-care is
critical to our mental health and well-being. We can make an appearance, learn, progress as
leaders, and build positive relationships if we take care of ourselves. Self-care, on the other
hand, is a talent and an art, and learning what it entails and how to practice it in a way that
works for us takes time. Every person who practices self-care will have a distinct
interpretation of the term. Keep in mind that our upbringing, neighborhoods, and identities all
have an impact on how we practice self-care. Individuals, families, and communities engage
in self-care activities with the goal of improving health, preventing disease, reducing illness,
and restoring health. These activities are based on a combination of professional and
non-professional knowledge and abilities. They are carried out by laypeople acting on their
own behalf, either alone or in partnership with experts. It's possible to make some broad
observations about these definitions. Individuals, their families, friends, and communities are
frequently included in self-care definitions. In the future, community-level activity to support
people in self-care will become more important. The prevention of sickness or illness, as well
as the maintenance of wellbeing, are emphasized. The definitions are largely aimed at
healthy persons. This isn't to argue that self-care isn't vital or suitable for people who have a
chronic illness. In this situation, self-care is critical, and the condition is frequently referred to
as self-management. In fact, understanding when to seek medical help is a critical decision
that a self-caring individual must make, and it should be the product of a self-determined
self-care decision-making process. In this context, the participation of patients in symptom
detection and minor sickness diagnosis is important.

During the last decade, there has been a surge in interest in the advantages of
compassion for others and self-compassion. Despite the fact that these two notions are
thought to be tightly related, research on their relationship is notoriously limited. There is
strong evidence that compassion for others is a separate emotion with evolutionary roots.
Compassion begins with empathy—the ability to understand another person's feelings and
see their point of view—and then moves on to alleviate suffering. Compassion for others is
thought to have developed as a caregiving reaction to vulnerable offspring, that it promotes
cooperative nonkin relationships, and that compassionate mates are favored. Additionally,
individuals' psychological well-being appears to benefit from compassion for others and
self-compassion. Survey methodologies have been used extensively to investigate the
association between self-compassion and psychological well-being. According to a
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systematic study, having a high level of self-compassion is connected with lower levels of
stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (MacBeth and Gumley 2012). Improvements in
self-reported indices of positive affectivity, such as higher happiness, optimism, positive
affect, and life satisfaction, are also associated with self-compassion (Neff 2003a; Neff et al.
2007).

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CONCLUSION

To summarize my comprehension of this topic, taking care of oneself is definitely

crucial to the improvement of one's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and
quality of life. It may help to relieve some of every person’s stress. However, in order to
achieve an overall state of wellness, it is critical to maintain both the physical and mental
components of self-care. It's critical to be aware of the existence of stress in your life and
how it affects you. Many people are unaware of the impact stress has on their lives and
health. One easy technique to assess your stress level is to tick off any stress-related affects
you are now experiencing on the informal inventory below. A preventive action is sometimes
the most efficient type of self-care. Developing your time management skills early in your
higher education experience will help you set yourself up for long-term success. The
rationale is straightforward: if you know what's coming, you can plan accordingly. Some
people are inevitably more prone to stress than others. According to mental health experts,
people who have excellent life skills — problem solving, decision making, dealing with
complex emotions, and managing relationships — are more likely to be able to cope with the
demands of societal events. Maintaining solid ties is especially vital while balancing multiple
tight deadlines. Maintaining contact with those in your support system can serve as a
constant source of inspiration as you struggle through demanding occasions. When we
explore the various realms of self-care, putting it into practice becomes a lot easier and more
effective. Practicing self-care practices from a variety of physical, social, and inner self-care
domains will help to support your health and wellbeing more holistically.

On the other hand, when talking about compassion and self-care, they are actually
defined somehow similarly. The only difference is whether we are focusing on others or
ourselves. Unfortunately, when it comes to our own pain, we seem to set a far higher
standard. We become self-critical instead of responding to obstacles with kindness and
acceptance. Or we hide our emotions because we are afraid that people will think we are
weak and inadequate. Self-compassion does not imply that you will grow complacent and
abandon your aspirations. Instead, self-compassion is about observing your pain, without
condemning any defects, mistakes, or failures, acknowledging that you are not alone in your
experience, and taking compassionate action to alleviate your misery. You can create
compassion for others by honing your ability to apply the four-part approach outlined above.
According to a recent study, compassion and self-compassion do not necessarily go hand in
hand. For example, you could be a committed father, a compassionate friend, or a generous
coworker. However, the generosity you show to others does not extend to yourself. Taking
time for oneself is not self-indulgent. It enables you to reflect and recharge so that others can
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experience the finest version of you more frequently. Thus, make self-compassion education
and development a component of your self-care plan. Self-compassion creates a loving
attitude and is manifested in our acts of kindness toward oneself. Prioritizing self-care
obligations is a physical manifestation of self-compassion. This new way of thinking and
embracing life, with all of its inherent messiness, requires effort, but it can be critical to
improving your mental health and overall happiness. We all understand the need of
self-care, but self-compassion provides us with the tools and guidance to prioritize trying to
take care of both our mind and body.