When I say ‘it’s okay to do nothing’, I genuinely mean it. If your social media feed looks anything like mine, you have probably heard this a lot. Some people host a Sunday event called ‘self-care Sunday’ which I think is an amazing idea. However, the mainstream connotations of self-care: baths, pampers and baking are not going to work for everyone. Now I have already written about this. But revisiting it a few months later is beneficial, since there are so many of you that have joined since then (thank you for 700 followers!)
Workaholism
I find that when people take you through their ‘self-care Sunday’, or ‘rest day’ they are still being mega productive. The workaholic mindset is worrying, especially among young impressionable people. Self-care Sunday should be for self-care: not for sharing it on your Instagram. Also, other people’s ideas of rest days might be more or less productive than your’s. So if you see someone going for a run on their rest day, that’s them. That makes them feel better. But if you sit on your bed eating chocolate raisins and watching Doctor Who all day, that can also make you feel better. Everyone has different ways of caring for themselves so please don’t compare them.
Is This The Real Life, Is This Just Fantasy For Instagram?
Telling your followers that you do take days off for self-care is important, they need to be aware that you’re not a Boss Babe 24/7. When influencers share their seemingly perfect self-care on the Internet, you speculate: are they doing this to take care of themselves or to post it on social media? Followers need to know that you’re not always working at the desk, but they also need to know that self-care isn’t just bubble baths and long walks.
For some people, going for a walk isn’t self-care. Diet culture perceives walking as a way to lose weight, and how can you enjoy an activity that intends for you to lose weight? There are so many people that can’t enjoy exercise because they’re only thinking about the end result, and disordered ideas that thinner is better. Rather than run for the fun of running, in the back of their mind (or the front) they’re thinking about how this will help them get fitter and potentially thinner. Glamourising weight loss is a whole other story.
I keep getting side-tracked. Wow, that shows how rusty I am with posts like this. Anyway, rest is a sub-category of self-care. Let me show you this:
Self care
- Eating well
- Getting exercise
- Doing your hobby
- Journaling/getting out your thoughts in some sort of medium
Rest
- Chilling in bed
- Catching up on telly
- Eating chocolate
- Cuddling with your cat
Taking care of yourself also means getting things done, to unload unnecessary stress. You can’t eat chocolate and watch Netflix all day every day, without consequences of bad health. Similarly, procrastinating an essay until the night before it’s due because you’ve been binge-watching telly is not self-care. Although watching Netflix might be a way of taking care of yourself and relaxing, prioritising it over the work that needs to get done will not make you feel any better. Self-care means something different to each individual, but the main principle is taking care of yourself as the word states.
Scenario
It’s a Monday afternoon, last lesson of school. The teachers sets you an essay, to be completed by Friday. You’re so tired by the time you get home; you don’t get started yet. However, this pattern continues until Thursday. Now you’re in a panic! Only a few hours to get this essay sorted? Why didn’t you do it sooner?
You didn’t do it sooner because you prefer to watch Netflix in the evenings. And chilling out, according to your social media feed, is self-care. That excuse keeps you going.
But, is waiting until the last minute really self-care? No. Perhaps getting a chunk done, rewarding yourself with an episode of Stranger Things, then getting another chunk done would be self-care. Otherwise you’re spending the entire week watching Netflix with the pressing concern of completing the essay in the back of your brain. You can’t properly enjoy relaxing in front of the telly when you know something is due in a few hours.
I will explain procrastination in further detail, as a separate post. However this one is supposed to be about self-care. Sorry the tangents are a bit annoying; I can’t help it! Eventually this will get better, but at the moment I don’t want to erase any paragraphs because I feel like they contribute to the post.
Self-care is individual.
Even I, the one preaching this message, need a reminder sometimes. I need to be told that taking care of yourself is not solely watching Doctor Who and eating chocolate raisins. It’s getting my work done, then rewarding myself with Doctor Who.
Okay, and back to the first paragraph. It’s called cyclical structure, and perhaps it will improve the continuity of this article. Umm, commenting on my writing as I’m writing is a little bit strange. I don’t know: do you like it? Or would you prefer me to shut up and get the facts down?
“It’s okay to do nothing”
What is nothing to you? You can’t simply do nothing. You are always doing something. Now, watching TV is not nothing, is it? It’s watching TV. So if you spend an afternoon watching TV, label it as such. Do not fall into the trap of calling relaxing ‘doing nothing’. Because relaxing is something. Relaxing is a key part in taking care of yourself. Next time you sit in a bath, singing along to 1D and using a hairbrush as a microphone, call it SELF-CARE. Not NOTHING!
As Winnie The Pooh says, ‘doing nothing leads to the very best something’.
How do you practise self-care? Does it consist of journaling, exercise or TV?
I hope this post starts up a conversation. I would love to chat with you. Although it is dissimilar to my regular content, I did really enjoy writing it. Let me know your thoughts: whether you read the whole thing through or just skimmed over parts? I know I am not usually compelled to read through chunky posts, I much prefer ones laid out with questions and answers. What about you?
Take care of yourself.
catherine x
My Instagram
Check out what I’m reading
My bookstagram (where I share bookish photos and thoughts)
The Ecolytical 
Omg I actually do have a school work which I need it to be completed by Friday! Reading this makes me wanna get into it right away 🙂 Thank you so much for this Catherine, I really needed to read this at the moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a coincidence! I hope this post was helpful. Although it is different to my usual style post, I do enjoy a little ramble here and there. Good luck with the work and thanks for stopping by 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was totally worth the read Catherine! Please do write more of these 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely will! I’m so blown away by the response 🙂 x
LikeLike
LOVED reading this post, I quite like a little ramble! I actually pride myself in my ability to work and then reward myself with something after completing the work, it’s how my brain works if that makes sense?! However, I’m a bit scared that after this whole pandemic is over that I will have lost that ability and have got used to sitting around all day, not doing anything that productive, (but not nothing as i have learnt from this post!!). Hope you’re doing well lovely! Xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! Ahh, I’m overjoyed that you liked it. I completely agree with the work/reward mindset. It’s a good way to set about tasks! Yes, I’m also scared for post-pandemic life. Going back to school scares me. I could hardly manage it as it is, never mind after 5 months of being away from it all! Finding my routine will be difficult, which is why I may be more quiet on my blog once school resumes. Fortunately we have the summer stretching out in front of us before than time arrives! Productivity isn’t about getting things done all the time, you need to have breaks to be productive. Sadly we’re not machines who can power through every task set in front of us! Hope you’re well too. I really hope this post makes someone feel better! Take care 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Catherine I loved reading this!! This post was filled with some super inspiring Self care tips. Loved the cat photo! And yeah I’m a big one on procrastination 😂😅 so this was so good for me to read ahaha! Great self care post!! ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you as always, Victoria! It’s a bit different to my usual blogs and I’m glad you enjoyed it. Hehe I’ll have to make a post about procrastination too, then! x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course ahaha! Sounds good 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enjoyed reading this post so much Catherine! Congrats on 700 followers! I’ve never actually taken the time to practice much self-care or learn the importance behind it, but this post has honestly taught me quite a lot! Loved reading it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading, Manasa! It was quite a bulky post, so perhaps you are in need of a medal. I hope this post gives an insight into what self-care really means. In the busy modern age, there is a worrying lack of awareness for our personal health! Take care 🙂 x
LikeLike
Catherine, this post was so nice to read! Congrats on 700 followers! I’m definitely a person that would binge watch on Netflix and call it self-care. Reading this post really helped me see that there are more ways to practice self-care! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad it was useful for you, Francine! Bingeing Netflix is okay, as long as you don’t make it a habit. Got to take care of yourself! I’m glad this post gave you a new perspective on self-care. That’s all that I aimed with it 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think life is definitely a balance and it’s important to work hard, but also to take care of yourself! Like you said, self care looks different to different people, but I think as long as we remember to try and be balanced then we’re all good :)) Great post and I didn’t mind the tangents haha xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, you’ve perfectly summarised this post Gracie. Balance is really important. Even me, preaching all these messages of self care, finds it hard to strike a balance sometimes. There’s two parts of the equation: over working myself or not working enough! Haha I’m glad you didn’t mind the tangents. My brain works that way, and my blog is supposed to be an insight into my mind (in the least creepy way possible). Thank you for reading! x
LikeLike
It’s so true self care is so unique and it can be whatever you want it to be! It doesn’t have to be extravagant, just something to make you feel happy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve perfectly summarised the point I was trying make, Zainab! Thank you so much for stopping by 🙂 x
LikeLike
This is truly such a lovely discussion, Catherine! I loved reading it.💛 This is so important, especially right now during quarantine. I love what you said about “doing nothing”- I’ll say that all the time, when asked what I did that day, just because my accomplishments don’t seem important, so I’ll say I did nothing, when in reality I wrote a blog post, commented on others, read a book, etc. This reminded me to rephrase how I spend my days!
I also needed the reminder of countering productivity with relaxation. Thank you for this! xx
LikeLike
Really great post! I totally agree with what you said about self-care being individual. It’s not about doing nothing/procrastinating but more about having enough positive reinforcements that you don’t lose the will to do stuff and you don’t end up only doing work and never having fun. It’s all about balance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading Pooja! Yes, that’s exactly the point I was trying to make. Balance is a thing we don’t all have enough of. I’m just trying to reinforce that for people who forget sometimes – like me! x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha I forget too but reminders like this one always helps!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a very important message!! I definitely need to evaluate how I spend my self-care time (usually doing some extra skincare, reading, watching shows, …) because I do have a problem with the workaholic mindset: even on my rest days, I can only feel okay if I’m being productive and checking things off my to-do list! )):
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for reading! It is a bulky post. I am exactly the same, and I feel very user accomplished when I’m not ticking things off a to-do list. I feel like I must make the most my time by doing ‘jobs’, when in reality I should be spending more time with the people I love :)) x
LikeLiked by 1 person