I have been trying out various therapy services lately (they all suck and do nothing, but that’s another topic). One of the things that the therapists always ask/say is if I do “self care” or tell me to do more “self care”. They talk about all kinds of different things that range from eating right to eating something as a treat to exercising to going for a walk to finding a hobby to etc.
So it seems like “self care” is literally anything that benefits your existence. And I’m quite frankly confused. I live alone and have zero responsibilities outside of work. Isn’t every moment of every day when I’m not working considered self care? When I go home at the end of the day, I have dinner and dick around on the internet. I don’t have kids or pets so there’s nothing else to worry about. I don’t have any extra responsibilities. My continued existence is “self care”. I don’t get it.
What I would understand in all of this is if I had maybe like kids or a sick family member I had to take care of. Is that who “self care” is for? People that have extra responsibilities? Because for those of us loners, basically our entire existence is self care. So I’m confused at what any of that is supposed to accomplish. I already do everything for myself.
In my experience, it’s usually a term used to sell you something. Often, it’s a ploy to get you to shell out the money for a luxury good under the guise that it’s somehow good for you.
If a therapist is telling it to you, it seems a bit lazy to me. Really, i think they should be saying something along the lines of “make sure to keep some of your time intentionally set aside to do things you enjoy”.