Self-Care is Not Selfish: Courage and Hope For the Future

New Year resolutions are filled with plans for change and hope for the future. And 2018 is no exception. Like others I made a new year resolution to improve my own health and well-being. So yes, keeping the focus on me yet again. It sounds and feels selfish to keep talking about me. And a quick Google search is quite harsh of such behaviour. It describes selfish as a person "lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure". Words such as egotistical, self-centred and self-absorbed go on to describe selfish behaviour. It's no wonder that people shy away when I talk about keeping the focus on us. But here's the thing, when we have spent so long focused on the people we love living with mental health, alcohol and other drug problems we have ignored our own health and well-being. And self-care is critical to preventing poor health, maintaining healthy lifestyles and modelling for the people we love how to do this. So have the courage to change, challenge feelings of resistance to self-care and be careful not to confuse self-care with selfish. Positive change for the future is then possible.