Because today is International Self Care Day, our Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is Self Care. If you decide to write a post based on this week’s prompt, be sure to go back here and share your link so everyone can see how you interpreted things! Here’s what I did with it…
It’s funny… I’m the kind of person who loves to preach self care to others. But I rarely ever take my own advice.
Apparently, there are a lot of people like me. Especially in the field in which I work. When you work in mental health or on the front lines of any real service industry where your job is literally to care for others, you often put yourself and your own needs on the back burner.
And even though I know that’s how I do things most of the time as well, I know that’s stupid.
Here’s an illustration I like to use when discussing the importance of self care. Imagine you have an enormous pitcher full of ice water on a hot day. You’ve got a dozen people lined up waiting with cups, ready for some cool, refreshing water. You pour and you pour. Finally, you reach the last person in line and they get the last drop from your pitcher. Suddenly you don’t have any water. There’s no more water for yourself and there’s no more water for anyone else who might come along. What if someone that you gave water to wants more?
The point is, if you keep giving of yourself, eventually you run out. You need to have someone pouring into you… or, at the very least, take time to replenish yourself in a healthy way. You can’t help others if you’re not helping yourself. If you give and give and give, eventually you’ll have nothing left to give, leaving you miserable and resentful.
Trust me… I’ve been there.
Thanks to everyone who participated this week and shared your links! Please visit their blogs, give them a follow, and take a look at how they interpreted the prompt.
Be sure to come back on Wednesday for the next Sunday Scribblings prompt! Encourage other bloggers to challenge themselves with the prompt! Remember that there are no rules for what you write, other than responding to the prompt! You can write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, biography, instruction… it’s all up to you!
Feature Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
The Confusing Middle 