Life is busy and we often leave self-care at the bottom of our ‘to do’ list.  Between work, getting kids to activities, making sure groceries are in the house, laundry is done, birthday parties are planned, and all the other things that we need to juggle in our lives, we frequently forget to check in with ourselves and make sure that we are keeping our machine in top notch condition.  We have a lot of excuses for this, which usually end up sounding something like ‘this needs to get done because no one else will do it / I don’t want to disappoint anyone / it is urgent and will fall apart if I don’t deal with it’.  What if we applied that same logic to our personal health – physical, emotional, psychological, social, etc. – would you spend more time taking care of yourself?

Children, either blessed with naiveté or profound wisdom, are always able to meet their own needs as a priority.  As they grow up, they learn the social niceties of putting others first and being respectful, but this also leads to a society that has been conditioned to increasingly ignore their self-care needs.  I have a patient I have been seeing for several years and I have also treated both of her children.  One day my patient was at home and was resting on the sofa with her eyes closed and head leaned back.  Her 4 year old daughter asked her what was wrong and she responded that she had a head ache that was bothering her.  In all her wisdom, the 4 year old asked her mom if she asked me what I thought about her head ache!  At such a young age, kids intuitively will gravitate to things they know have worked….it is wonderful to have such a great advocate on the side of osteopathy!

Be accountable for your health – eat well, exercise, do things that help you unwind and de-stress, and look for ways to naturally support your overall well being.  As a nurse, I am strong advocate that medication is sometimes needed to treat illness and disease, but as an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner (OMP) I also know that my patients can gain great benefit from adding other complementary therapies to their health care routines.  Whether you choose to access an OMP, Naturopath, Registered Massage Therapist, or any other modality that works for you, make the time to take care of yourself as a priority.  As the saying goes, the future You will thank you 🙂