There is always a time and a place for care. Whatever it might be, the ability to care is always possible. It is normal in our day and age that some matters might get in the way. School, jobs, family, responsibilities are all plausible attributes seeing that it’s easy to persecute external factors for the mistreatment of ourselves and others. When preoccupations take over, it is hard to prioritize care and that can lead to an extremely unhealthy mental state.
For many, the idea of taking one hour or even one minute out of our day to care for ourselves or others is unfathomable as it is easily perceived as a nuisance and harmful to our productivity. And even then, people insist to believe that care requires grand gestures. Going to the spa or taking a vacation is without doubt popular choices. Many are blind to the fact that care can be as simple as cleaning out our wardrobe, reading our favourite book or eating a favourite snack. It’s the little things that give us high spirits and make us feel cared for daily. Even with care in itself is one of the most subjective topics there is, it always carries a common ground which is that care leads to happiness. And like the domino effect, by caring for ourselves, we can care for others and spread the feeling of happiness.
It is up to us to take the initiative to make care a priority again for ourselves. And the countless options as to how you can care, it can take time to figure out. But care isn’t something that can be done in a day. It’s a slow process that can as mentioned previously, be temporarily halted by life. We all have our days where caring isn’t something feasible but we can’t let ourselves get mentally acclimated to the idea that care isn’t worth it. It can be hard to care when we aren’t feeling up to it. And when circumstances, emotions, schedules change, it’s easy to take care out of our routine. But what can go from days without care, to months can be extremely harmful. It is our responsibility to get out of a mental space where care isn’t negotiable any more. Funny how something so vital to us and our well being can be so easily forgotten. It might trump everything in importance, but somehow not in priority and makes it possible for anything to get in the way of care.
While studying Graphic Design at BCIT, I had a really tough time with self-care. I considered downtime watching a show, or Youtube prior to university and once I began to study most of the work I was doing was also done on a screen since I worked uniquely with Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator. I could end up spending 10 hours plus staring at my screen per day. I became incredibly anxious and sick. I was stuck not only with a routine, but one that never commanded me to get up, and lead a healthier lifestyle. And when I felt it was time to reward myself for the hard work I had done, I just went back on my screen and watched something I thought would be entertaining. Getting out of that rut had been very difficult and with school once more asking of me to be on a computer again, I am slowly falling back into the same trap. However this time I am aware of it and I can make a conscious decision to take care of myself and my health by spending time apart from my computer or my phone. That is an example of a specific problem being solved my a specific type of care — being off of a screen. And being able to identify the problem and the solution both take allot of time and thus I’ve learnt a very important lesson. Care does not come right away. It is a progression that asks for patience and determination.