Self-Maintenance > Self-Care

It’s easy to get caught up in the news from Ukraine. There is a news story and/or social media post for every emotion that we’re able to experience. It can be exhausting. In the world we find ourselves in now, we may want to level up from self-care to self-maintenance.

Emotions are Energy in Motion.

Emotions are energy in motion. Energy is created, expressed, and contained in our bodies. Which is why experiencing the highs and lows of the current news cycle can be emotionally and physically exhausting.

We are experiencing a lot of emotional energy. No doubt, many of us are experiencing the physical effects of those strong emotions. Our mental health is likely impacted as well.

It’s in times like these that we need to take care of ourselves. We need to be monitoring our well-being. We need to check our energy levels like we check our car’s fuel level. We too may run out of gas.

By monitoring ourselves, we can adjust or implement our self-care, practices as needed. Set aside media when it becomes too heavy, or a burden. Get outside and be in nature. Move our bodies to release the heave energy. Take care of ourselves. It’s then that we balance out our energy, balance our emotions.

Self-Maintenance > Self-Care.

These days, self-care almost seems trite. It feels played out and easy to brush aside as insignificant, but it’s not. Caring for ourselves mentally and physically should be our first priority. We know we can’t pour from an empty cup.

We need a new word that takes into consideration our current world and the energy that it generates. A word that is next level self-care. I’m going with “self-maintenance”.

Back in the day, people used to be labeled as “high”-maintenance or “low”-maintenance. It was based on how much effort they put into something. In the film, When Harry Met Sally, Harry labeled Sally “high maintenance” because she ordered her meals in exacting detail. She wanted things the way she wanted them. I call that just plain maintenance.

We maintain things to keep them running well and efficiently. Maintenance logs are important documents for tracking what is deemed an important activity. There are jobs with “maintenance” in the title. Maintenance is supporting and keeping up equipment and other things. It’s standard operating procedure. It’s not judged for being too indulgent. It’s important and treated that way.

Self-maintenance is just as important. Maintaining our health and our emotional well-being is essential to living a well-balanced life. We know this, it’s just that sometimes we need to be reminded to invest that time in ourselves.

These are such challenging times. There is abundant emotion and energy to go around. It’s up to each one of us to maintain our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

The graphic today was made in Canva.

Be well,

Nikki