A reminder to notice early signs of fatigue, stay present, build steady habits, and follow simple routines that protect energy and support self-care.
✍️ Authored by Ashish Pradhan
President Asia and Member Group Executive Committee, Siegwerk
One of my colleagues recently won an award for exemplifying the company’s core value of “Active support”. She was always there to help others in whichever way possible to help them reach their goals. A few weeks after receiving this award, she abruptly disappeared from the workplace and upon enquiry, I found that she had suffered from a “burn-out”.
How did this happen? A person who was always cheerfully helping others, fail to help herself?
I recollected a famous maxim a dear friend had always espoused “I am the most important person in my life”. Having not paid much attention to this earlier, I was now compelled to do so…
Self-care is something we all know is important to our well-being.
How many of us really believe this? We are conditioned from our childhood to revile “selfishness” and revere “selflessness”.
This conditioning ensures that we disregard our own physical and mental state in pursuit of the comfort of the people we care for. That’s why we simply disregard sign of wear tear in our body and mind and soldier on. The one unbeatable argument that one can deal to oneself is that if one doesn’t care for oneself, one cannot care for others – in the long run.
The signs of mental wear and tear are well documented. What is important is whether we can pick them up. We are normally so engrossed in our daily activities and the desire keep pace on the ever-increasing speed of the capitalistic treadmill that we do not pick the signs.
Awareness offers a way out.
Being in the present, in the moment improves the chances of picking the signals. Having the mind and the body in the same place at the same time … this is the key. A daily meditation practice helps build our self-awareness and I would say it’s the first step towards self-care.
An appropriate physical fitness regimen is another must-do. Here, I would always root for consistency rather than intensity. Consistency is about showing up. Setting targets for fitness levels can be counter-productive for two reasons – a sense of defeat when one doesn’t reach the targets (which anyway tend to be over-ambitious) leading to throwing in the towel and the second, we miss enjoying the process of exercise and this makes the possibility of not keeping up with the regimen high.
Developing a hobby is a sure-shot way to rejuvenate our sagging energy levels.
Finding a few minutes to listen to your favourite music, reading a book, watching an episode or two of your favourite web series, whatever that helps you re-charge your batteries that will help you sustain the constant demand one one’s energies. A short break to the beach or the mountains is a wonderful escape which one must resort to when it feels as if the water is rising close to the nostrils.
Picking up signs early, taking easy measures and having a routine that keeps the fatigue away… that’s my mantra for self-care.