Self Care: What is it really?

        Today I want to talk to you about self-care, what it really means, it's original intention, and how to practice it correctly.

        Self-care is big nowadays, and that is a good thing. I have nothing against it. But I do see that its intention and its practice very rarely, if ever, align. The initial intention of self-care is to get people to take some time/money/energy, put it into themselves and get a positive result or product form it(aka growth). But it is no longer representative of this purpose and intention; as a matter of fact I don't think it ever has been. If it were society would be better off don't you think? But that is a conversation for another time. 

        Now that we have covered the true purpose of self-care let us discuss the misunderstanding behind self-care. We will start by breaking up the word. Self is defined as you, yourself. And Care is defined as protection, safe keeping, and defense. Now, on the surface that sounds nice, but if you really think about it, all of these actions or habits will sooner rather than later cause you to introvert. And if you introvert for long enough, then you will find yourself in an apathetic state. And that may seem desirable to you but you can't create the life you want if you aren't in a state of extroversion. Here is an example, to put things into perspective for you, many people believe a vacation will fix things, they believe it will act as a refresh button but this never happens. Because running away from something you are having difficulties with does not solve the difficulties. Yes you may enjoy the vacation but you still come back to the same problem. And if you do this long enough you just crave vacations more and more and you like your life at home less and less. 

        So what is the proper definition of self care? I created the word Self-Invest as a replacement. Because When you invest in something you do something or you put something in in order to get a positive result or product. When you are investing, you primary focus is not how you feel when you are investing or doing the action. You are more interested in the result. This words as you can see aligns much more to the initial purpose of self-care without neglecting the importance of the outcome/product.

Hope this serves you well. I believe in you, always. 

-Enrique