THERE are so many kinds of diet people experiment with to lose weight in the belief that looking good will boost their self-esteem and make them more attractive to others. But in the process of dieting, they easily lose their tempers and forget to have fun in social gatherings. My previous team underwent those challenges when we did the biggest loser challenge at the start of last year. One of my teammates insightfully remarked that most of the team had shorter fuses.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to look better by being on a diet or an exercise regimen. In fact, I am all for it. But for you to fully appreciate the value of what you are doing, you must also take into consideration other aspects of your well-being. This is where self-care comes in. It is not a one-off activity where you focus on only one area of your life; self-care involves engaging every aspect of it to keep yourself happy and content. People are holistic which means one area of your life affects the others. And with the new working conditions and the challenges they pose, it is now more imperative for you to look at self-care not as an extravagance but a need.
The first aspect of your well-being which you need to care for is your body. While diet plays an important role in maintaining a healthy body and an attractive physique, do not forget that hygiene, moderate exercise and enough sleep are equally important. Take the time to walk around every 15 minutes, or stand up occasionally during web conferences. Increase your activity by doing housework or developing a hobby while in quarantine. Play your favorite music and then dance like nobody’s looking, and then dance some more. Do not forget to sleep adequately because it is the body’s way of repairing itself and getting itself ready for the challenges of the day.
Aside from the physical, the other aspects of your well-being are how you take care of your mental and emotional health. In terms of your mental health, keep your mind sharp and take an inventory of your own strengths and weaknesses.
Understanding these will help you accept your limitations and help you say “no” to projects you know you cannot do. But it can also become an opportunity for you to grow in an area you are not well-versed. This all boils down to what you feed your mind.
When I was still in a graveyard shift, one of the things I enjoyed doing to keep awake was to watch TED Talks and I still do that today. But not as much as I watch The Dodo channel on YouTube to relax (bit.ly/2QF9ykJ). Give your mind a break by watching or doing something different but also something you enjoy. Sometimes, the creative inspiration comes when you are relaxed and mindful of what is happening around you.
How you deal with negative emotions also affects your well-being. How do you deal with anxiety, anger, or frustration? What others have done to you in the past, doubting yourself, and reliving mistakes in the past can become destructive and may hamper you from doing your best, or even prevent you from accepting what other people can offer. It all depends on your mindset—are you a victim or a survivor? And with all those negative thoughts and the current situation where you are cut off from a lot of important people in your life, you need to have someone you can talk to about your anxieties and help you process what you are feeling. If not, keep in touch with friends. Technology has afforded us several ways of reaching out. Maximize those communication channels by reaching out to people and just talking.
Another aspect of well-being people often overlook is their spirituality. When people think of spirituality, they automatically think of religion. But spirituality is more than that. It involves a deeper sense of meaning and understanding your place in the universe. It is a deep-seated understanding of your purpose and your life’s meaning, which helps you think of something bigger than yourself, lifts your mindfulness and helps you understand how you fit in the whole scheme of things.
Meditation, prayer, attending a worship service—all these helps you have a holistic appreciation of your well-being. That is why people also do yoga as a form of meditation and exercise. It helps in focusing your energies into positive energy, helping you become aware of how you physiologically react to stress. Meditation in a yoga pose, or your personal reflection every morning, helps in mental cleansing to get rid of unnecessary burdens or concerns which might be bringing you down.
The last aspect of your well-being is your social interactions with friends and those you have a close personal relationship. In Susan Pinker’s TED talk in 2017, titled “The Secret to Living Longer May Be Your Social Life,” I discovered that close relationships and social integration (how much you interact with people you work with every day) can increase longevity. This does not refer to the number of followers in your social-media accounts, but to the number of significant face-to-face interactions with people you have a deep personal connection. It is not the number of people but the quality of people in your life. This goes without saying that to care for your well-being, get rid of toxic people in your life. Weed out people who do not add value to your life and walk away from people who take advantage of you and make you feel less about yourself.
You owe it to yourself to live your best life and you cannot do this when your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social dimensions are askew. Like what they say, you cannot give out of an empty cup. You cannot give something which you yourself do not have. But when you do give and it is abused, tell yourself that maybe they needed it more than you did and for whatever it is worth, hope that it made them happy and that they would pass on the good deed someday. Focus on improving yourself and let go of the baggage that holds you down so you can be totally well.