It's very common to hear people complain that they don't know how to take care of themselves.

That they always do things for others.

They say they prioritize others needs, but never their own.

I don't think that's true.

I'm not even sure that it's possible.

I think most of us are mostly selfish by a design.

I think the problem that we're all trying to articulate when we say things like this is

that we don't know how to put self-care first.

Being will over commit to work, will over commit to family, maybe even community obligations,

but will ignore things like free time or exercise or quiet solitude or thinking time.

I don't think the problem is that we're also altruistic that our free time, our days

get sucked up by charity work.

I think that our time gets consumed by other things that in the pecking order of our

own mind and society's mind seems so much more important.

The term self-care often conjures up images of a manicure or a lazy Sunday morning

brunch.

That's fine.

But what if we expanded that to include things like art or creativity, silence, adventure,

friendship, all of these different things that may be feed your soul, but almost by definition,

self-care, it's not really quantifiable.

It doesn't really find a place in the pecking order, the hierarchy of your calendar.

But it's really important.

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