‘Self-care’ is a buzzword that we hear a lot online these days. But what does it mean?
Jayne Hardy, CEO of The Blurt Foundation, discusses what self-care is, why it’s important to implement and why so many of us struggle, which leads to a lot of frazzled, exhausted, drained, depressed and anxious people in this book.
Self-care is especially important to anyone living with a physical or mental health condition as it helps us to get the balance right between work, play and taking care of our health. 
I may reference back to this book and what I’ve learned from it throughout my blog posts.
I appreciated this book and expect that many other people living with thyroid conditions (as well as other health conditions) will too. Learning to manage our stress levels, where we’re expending our energy and how to juggle everything we want to do in life, can be such a big part of living well with a thyroid condition (such as hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s).
I read this book in just two days, as I found it easy to chew through chapter after chapter and much of the writing from the author was relatable. Jayne Hardy is the founder and CEO of The Blurt Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness of mental health (depression, mainly) and providing a platform for others struggling, to connect and feel understood. Jayne explains that self-care is not a luxury; it’s a necessity to feeling well-balanced. We live in such a fast-paced life these days and finding it hard to switch off can be difficult.
She shares her own personal experience with depression and falling out of the habit of taking care of herself, but also how she’s improved her mental health by creating time and a routine for self-care practises.
Many thyroid patients, like myself, also need to reevaluate their work, routines and life in general, in order to review where their energy is being spent and how to better use it. When those with a thyroid condition have less energy than others, they have to be more mindful about using it effectively and efficiently.
“When we’re operating on a frazzled level, day-to-day, we’re opening the door for so many illnesses to walk right in.” The author says, which rang true for me as heaps of stress helped to trigger my thyroid condition and feeling stressed, frazzled and worn down also causes it to flare up and makes it impossible to manage successfully.
The book explains how self-care isn’t all about spa days, holidays, shopping trips and manicures. Self-care includes anything that promotes you looking after yourself, such as: remembering to go to the doctors appointments you make, feeding yourself good food, brushing your teeth everyday and giving social media a curfew. It’s about taking responsibility for yourself and your needs. After all, how can we expect to have a well-balanced life with thyroid disease when we’re not looking after ourselves?
I found the section regarding where self-care began to be incredibly interesting. It goes back to several Greek philosophers, and the history behind its conception really adds depth to why it should be such a central part of our day to day living.
Looking at the things that often get in the way of us taking care ourselves, how to take small steps to rebalancing our lives and how to get back on top of self-care when you lose your motivation, The Self-Care Project is a book that will make a lot of people feel much less alone and instead, more understood. Self-care isn’t selfish or a luxury, it is a necessity and a part of our lives that we need to shield and take seriously.
You can get a copy of this book from Amazon.
You can click on the hyperlinks in the above post to learn more and see references to information given.
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