It can be said that in times of crisis, self-care goes out the window. I can attest to this. Ask me what I’ve done for myself in the past month of the pandemic, and the answer would be that I thought about scheduling a massage when they opened back up only to back down from the idea when scheduling the massage became an ordeal. That’s as close to self-care as I’ve gotten. Seriously!
That isn’t to say I don’t need it. In fact, as I write this, Hurricane Douglas aims itself at my island state, and I almost consider myself lucky if it hits. We’re prepared for it with all the food, water, insurance, etc. So what would two to three days of being forced to unplug do? It’d probably compel me to focus on a few home matters that need attention that I’ve been putting off because working and managing a household during a pandemic just take too much time and energy.
“Take care of yourself first. In order to cultivate the social and emotional skills of your children, you must take care of your own mental and emotional wellness,” as Sara Potler LaHayne, founder of [Move This World],(https://www.movethisworld.com/), a social-emotional learning program, told Mom.com. It’s a good reminder that I don’t need a hurricane to get some quiet reflection time in.
Here are some things that parents can do to take care of yourselves, so you take care of everyone else just a little better.
Taking care of your physical health during the pandemic
Signs parents need to take a break and make self-care a priority
It can be easy to lose sight of the fact that you aren’t taking care of yourself and expending all of your energy tending to the needs of your kids. In fact, by the time you realize you need to do something, you’re probably already fried or risking burnout.
Consider the symptoms suggesting that you need to do a little more in the self-care category:
- Focus problems: You can’t concentrate on even simple tasks let alone your work for the day.
- Anxiety: Everything makes you feel anxious and you don’t feel you have control over anything.
- Emotional outbursts: You might get angry at the kids or your partner for something that shouldn’t really bother you. Your patience might be very thin.
- Feeling hopeless or helpless: This is where you really need to stop and take an inventory and do some self-care. Find the things that bring you joy and give you hope.
The better you are at recognizing the signs of needing a break, the quicker you will be in addressing the problem.
