Wellness Wednesday: {Self Care Part 2}

Welcome back to "Wellness Wednesday", a midweek look at one aspect of our health and wellness in life. Remember that I'm using the Wheel of Wellness to help visualize health in life:

Source

If you need a little refresher, click here. We are currently in the middle of Life Task 2: Self Direction, and today we will be continuing our discussion on Self Care. This is an excellent time of the year to be focusing on self care, as any time holidays or family gatherings hit, it's easy to give up our self care activities. 


Myers & Sweeney (in their book Counseling For Wellness) have outlined 3 aspects of self care within this dimension of health:
"safety habits that we learn to protect ourselves from injury or death; periodic physical, medical, and dental checkups; and avoiding harmful substances, both those that we might ingest and toxic substances in the environment" (p. 24). 
The goal of self-care, then is to increase longevity of life, and to be as healthy as possible while living that life. 


Here are a few behaviors that fall under the category of "self-care"

• Brushing & flossing teeth on a daily basis
• Avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun, using sunscreen, and avoiding tanning beds (PLEASE!)
• Wearing a helmet while riding a bike... always... 
• Learning how to tread water and swim (in order to stay safe near the water)
• Wearing a life jacket while out on a boat
• Not diving in lakes/ponds/shallow pools
• ALWAYS wearing a seat belt in the car
• Getting appropriate vaccinations
• Checking the back seat of the car before getting into it
• Looking both ways before crossing the street
• Not texting while driving (please don't text... seriously.... it's really dangerous)
• Having a designated driver if you go out and drink
• Avoid smoking
• Eat a healthy and balanced diet 
• Limit the number of alcoholic beverages you drink on a regular basis
• Lock your house while you're home & when you're gone, EVEN IF you live in a safe neighborhood. 

These are just a few things to help get you thinking about the self care measures that you currently take in life, and which areas might need improvement. Modeling and teaching appropriate self care and safety to our children is important, as children tend to do what they see their parents do. 

Now it's your turn:

What important aspects of self-care do you regularly do? Which aspects of self-care might you need to improve? Do you regularly schedule appropriate health screenings and check-ups?