It’s important for all of us, as people who spend our working life caring for others, to routinely take time out to really care for ourselves. Across my 3 decade long career there have been many occasions when I ended the year in the red, my ‘personal account’ completely overdrawn, so to speak. In recent years I have gotten a lot better at this but you know what, I wish I and everyone else said ‘yes to less’ sooner in our lives and pushed back hard against the culture and myth of busyness.
As practitioners of naturopathic and integrative medicine, we, more than others, know this modern preoccupation is at odds with living a life of health, balance and wellness.
We educate, inform and advocate for others on a daily basis to slow down and prioritise health yet how often do we miss the memo ourselves?
‘Really caring for ourselves’, may constitute something very individual for each one of us. There’s no right or wrong. In October I went to Greece (again!) with just a ferry ticket to Kythira, an island I’d plucked off the map, and a return flight in a month. Anyone who heard of my [lack of] plans was stunned: staying so long on one island, one made of mountains and without public transport and at the end of summer when much would be closed or closing! But this enabled me to make things up as I went along and thanks to incredible intel from the only Kytherian I know (an awesome Aussie naturopath of course!!!), once there I decided to do an 11-day solo supported walk of the island. Just me, a day pack and each day a new destination & someone’s home to rest my head and be fed. This is as close as I get to ‘weightlessness’. It’s so essential & energising when we take some of our own medicine. Yep, I am finishing this year ‘back in the black’, baby! [couldn’t resist the ACDC ⚡ reference😂]
