Let Pampering Be Thy Medicine
This week’s Body Love Tip is a reminder for myself, as well as all the other women (and men!) out there who may be quietly thinking that self-care (a.k.a. pampering) is selfish.
It definitely is not, and I’ve learned that it’s in fact an absolute necessity, which is why I’m reminding us all this week to:
Treat “pampering” like it’s medicine.
In other words, if used regularly, self-care therapies (pampering) can yield some amazing results – in decreased stress, improved immunity, and even injury-prevention.
Every single day, every single one of us is exposed to stress – and often we don’t see the effects of this stress, until they’ve compounded so much that they result finally in burnout, injury or illness.
Then there’s usually a long road to recovery – and sometimes, by the time we get to that point, natural pampering therapies aren’t always enough, or they may take a lot longer to work than we’d like.
That’s usually when we turn to not-so-natural therapies, like prescription drugs, which almost always have undesirable side-effects.
Many of us can find it difficult to justify the time and expense of pampering – especially on professional therapies like regular massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, reflexology, etc, but even on inexpensive/free therapies like soothing baths or stretching – unless it’s to “fix” something that’s broken.
When something’s broken, of course we spare no expense to get it fixed and healed and back to normal. But if it’s not broken, we can usually think of so many other areas where we can better justify the time and money spent.
What if we were to invest in our self-care BEFORE something breaks?
How could regular pampering save us from having to make a painful recovery in the first place?
Most of us have our go-to solutions when we’re faced with a need for healing, or simply some restorative therapy. And if we invested in these a little more often – like weekly rather than just occasionally – as self-care for prevention, then we’d probably have much fewer instances of injury, burnout and illness.
How can you use your own pampering methods to keep your body, mind and soul healthy?
Perhaps you could start by just listing a few of your favourite therapies – both the professional ones, and the free ones that you can do at home – and then make a plan to invest in at least one this week.
It’s extremely important for us to remember that it’s OK to take care of ourselves, even when things aren’t broken. Self-care is definitely not selfish – it supports you and everyone around you who depend on your wellbeing for their wellbeing.
I’d love to hear from you!
What are your pampering (i.e. preventative medicine) strategies? Please share in the comments below!
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Transcript:
I want to share with you a thought that recently came to mind as I’ve been ramping up my running distance for my marathon training. It’s a realization that’s the foundation of my Body Love Tip this week, which is to:
Use “pampering” as preventative medicine.
In other words, if used regularly, self-care therapies can yield some amazing results – in decreased stress, improved immunity, and even injury-prevention.
Here’s what just occurred to me this week:
As I’ve shared in my previous post, I’ve started training for a marathon, and for me, this is no easy feat. Even though I’ve been running for about 15 years, I’ve injured myself so often that I’ve often found myself having to start all over again after healing. So this time, after I registered for the marathon (which, I’m starting to realize is going to be quite the test for me – I just ran 16km yesterday and wanted to sleep all afternoon…42km will definitely be a challenge!), I’ve been ultra tuned-in and extremely careful during my training, being diligent in taking care of myself and really listening to my body, and paying attention to even the slightest ache or pain. Because I don’t want to get injured again. I love running so much, and I want to be able to continue it, even beyond the marathon.
So, I’m finding myself doing a lot of “pampering-type” things as preventatives measures, to take care of my body well enough to prevent injury – and not waiting, as I have done so many times in the past, for injury to happen before I take better care of my body.
I’ve been doing tons of feel-good stretches on the floor especially while watching TV – rather than just sitting on the couch, and rolling out my muscles and tendons. I’m also getting regular chiropractic care, and consistently applying soothing essential oils to my muscles. I’ve even purchased an infra-red massage chair contraption for my home so that I can take care of my sore muscles between professional treatments. And it’s all working fantastically.
But it’s really got me thinking – this is probably the first time in my life that I’ve really been conscious of preventative body care, outside of my regular exercise and nutrition regimens.
I’ve considered all these other areas to be optional “pampering”, and I’ve often scrimped on them – not investing my time or my money into them regularly. And I’ve just begun to ask why.
What I’ve realized was the problem, is that I’ve thought, perhaps even subconsciously, that it’s difficult to justify these investments, unless it was to “fix” something that was broken. When something’s broken, of course we spare no expense to get it fixed and healed and back to normal. But if it’s not broken, we can think of so many other areas where we can better justify the time and money spent.
But, what if we were to invest in them before something breaks? How could they save us from having to make the painful recovery in the first place?
When I look back at all the running injuries I’ve had over the years, I wonder:
If I’d have seen the additional investment as necessary to my regular self-care, as preventative care, rather than simply for healing purposes, could I have saved myself from all those injuries? Well, I’ll never know, but it’s quite possible that the answer is YES.
Because the truth is, that with regular self-care like what I’m now doing, healing is happening on an on-going basis.
Every single day, every single one of us is exposed to stress – and often we don’t see the effects of this stress, until they’ve compounded so much that they result finally in burnout, injury or illness. And then there’s usually a long road to recovery after we’ve reached that point.
And sometimes, by the time we get to that point, natural therapies aren’t always enough, or they may take a lot longer to work than we’d like, and so then we’ll turn to not-so-natural therapies, like prescription drugs, which almost always have undesirable side-effects.
So what if we were to see investing in our pampering and self-care as a necessity rather than optional?
Now that’s not to say that we all need to invest in ALL the healing modalities, ALL the time for good preventative health. But I do know that we all have our go-to solutions when we’re faced with a need for healing or simply some restorative therapy. And if we invested in these a little more often -like weekly rather than occasionally – as a self-care measure for prevention, then we’d probably have much fewer instances of injury, burnout and illness.
So, this week, how can you use your own pampering methods to keep your body, mind and soul healthy? Perhaps you could start by just listing a few of your favourite therapies, – both professional, and free ones that you can do at home – and then make a plan to invest in one this week. Things like meditation, stretching and aromatherapy baths are just a few examples of pampering therapies that are very inexpensive, if not free, and can reap major benefits.
It’s extremely important for us to remember that it’s OK to take care of ourselves, even when things aren’t broken. Self-care is definitely not selfish – it supports you and everyone around you who depend on your wellbeing for their wellbeing.
So, I’d like to know: what are YOUR go-to therapies that you can start using as preventative medicine. Let me know in the comments and let’s start a conversation!
Remember: When you shine your gifts, you define your beauty.
