Self-Care

Self care is personal health maintenance.  It is any activity of an individual, family or community, with the intention of improving or restoring health, improving personal income, and restoring balance in their lives.

People who maintain their personal health save money, time, and energy. They experience more pleasure, avoid pain (both physical and emotional), and conserve energy. This means that they avoid the high cost of being ill for a longer period of time and delay the arrival of old age and death.

The best way to handle physical pain is to remain healthy and to avoid injury. Self-care also includes surrounding yourself with people that add to your happiness, being around people who embrace knowledge, and having people in your life who embrace order.  Here are a few thoughts to consider:

1. If you are doing something you don’t enjoy for the purpose of making money or surviving, this is a symptom of  non-freedom and struggle. It makes you old.

2. When you have unhappy people in your surroundings, it adds to your unhappiness.

3. An ignorant or stupid person in your life detracts from your potential knowledge of the world.

4. When other people in your atmosphere have disorder in their world, it adds to the disorder in yours.

Why is it important to practice self-care? Self-care lowers both the direct costs and the indirect costs of being ill or having a disease.

The direct costs of being ill or having a disease

1. Medical expenses

2. Hospital expenses

3. Physician visits and expenses

The indirect costs of being ill or having a disease

1. Disability days

2. Permanent disability

3. Caregiver time, energy, and expenses.

4. Stress on the caregiver leading to secondary stress disorder.

5. Unhealthy lifestyles are easily passed down from generation to generation.

6. Physically or emotionally unable to enjoy grandchildren, children, or other loved ones.