Take good care of yourself…

Our resilience champion, Katie Piper, knows that self-care is not a hollow buzz phrase, but a means to offer your best self to others

WHAT DOES SELF-CARE REALLY MEAN? It’s become a well-used term of late and, truth be told, it can mean different things to different people – and that’s perfectly OK.

I believe self-care is strongly linked to your levels of self-esteem. If your self-worth and confidence are low, you won’t believe that you are worthy of love, attention and repair from anyone, including yourself.

Standing up to your inner bully is difficult. It’s easy to be unkind and harsh on ourselves, even when we wouldn’t dream of being that way to others. In therapy, we are encouraged to recall our inner child and speak to ourselves as we would speak to a young person, with compassion and empathy.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realised that self-care is essential if I am to function. Now that I have a family, partner and children depending on me, I realise I can’t carry on giving to them if I don’t fill myself up.

For me, self-care can be obvious things, such as a solo run or a face mask. Often, however, it is a moment of reflection: Am I running on empty? Are my boundaries getting blurry? Establishing myself and my identity among all the noise, and taking time out is critical for me – even if it’s 15 minutes of silent alone time in another room. It’s the intention to never lose myself and acknowledge my needs that brings me back to centre.

Go to psychologies.co.uk Put the self-care fallacies to rest

for more words of wisdom and strength from our monthly columnist, the indomitable Katie Piper