5 Breaths

3 minute read

This idea of self care is all the rage, isn’t it? I get it, I hesitated to borrow it myself, and still, the more I contemplated what self care really means, how the science says it works, and why it helps with mental health, wholeness, and happiness – I was nerdy for it. 

Any intervention that is simple, sustainable, and best yet, free – I’m down for it. 

Like anything, self care is a practice that requires relentless attention and prioritization. We didn’t become excellent walkers without practicing the skill for countless hours. 

And like walking, self care will not always get done, nor will it promise to solve all the problems, and still, with regular application, it can be another skill mastered and tool collected. There’s nothing wrong with that.

This journey all stems from my very hectic mind. I wish I could capture the conversations wrestling around inside my brain. One voice loudly saying, you need to live bolder and more intentionally and more meaningfully, and this other, equally gnawing voice, that shouts back, I am doing the best that I can and it never feels like enough. 

I’ve begun to realize that is just the balance of life, right? It’s never going to be fully aligned. 

It’s hard to care for those we hold most dear, while also making a little space for ourselves. It’s a challenge to work relentlessly and yet rarely celebrate the satisfaction of it being enough. It’s acknowledging that most of life is pretty ordinary, while occasionally pausing to experience the extraordinary. 

To that end, I’ve been trying to exercise what I espouse every day. Let’s just say, it hasn’t been easy or even very successful. Like everything, I start and I stop, I go hard and give up, I create and don’t maintain. See ying-yang – I’m a pro at it.