True story: I once ended up in therapy because I was so stressed out about adding a bunch – too many – self care to dos to my regular to do list. Like, how am I supposed to do everything I regularly need to get done while also doing all the other things I’m supposed to be doing to take care of myself? Deliberate self-care just made the problem worse.
Which is, I suppose, life’s way of telling me that I was doing it wrong. Self-care is supposed to be about making sure you’re taking the time to do what’s right for you, not what other people tell you are the things you should do.
What does this have to do with The Happy Healthy Non-Profit? Well, for the first two chapters (basically: all the ways we stress ourselves out) I was there. I enjoyed reading them and noticed that I was eating more vegetables, walking more, and taking more time for myself during the day. Then, in the third chapter where it got really detailed about all of the self-care items you should add to your to do list? All those pages of do-this-not-that? Stress city.
I was out. Just done. Completely. I’ve been there before, and it didn’t work for me. There was more of the book to be read, perhaps tips and tricks that would have been helpful, but I was having none of it.
That’s the point of self-care. It’s about you doing what’s right for you – my self care is not going to be your self care. My salad for breakfast (don’t knock it till you try it) is your too-much-work-too-early-in-the-morning.
Which, I guess means I should say: this book didn’t work for me. It might for you.
