Wake up. Go to school. Go to practice. Go to work. Do homework. Go to sleep. Repeat.
For many teenagers, this is a typical day: trying to impress colleges, their parents, coaches, and friends- leaving almost no time for themselves. Despite this–or perhaps because of this– self care is becoming more commonplace in today’s society.
“After school, I go to the gym, go home and get ready for work, and then when I get home around nine or ten I start homework,” said Senior Henry Ridder. “I try to do something relaxing when I can, but I usually don’t have time.”
Ridder–who is a straight A student and the president of several clubs– is almost always doing something that will help him reach his goals. To deal with the stress of his seemingly unending obligations, he just does what he needs to do.
“At this point, I’m confident that I’ll get everything done that I need to, so stressing is kind of useless because I know I’ll work it out in the end,” said Ridder.
However, not everyone deals with their stress so efficiently. Many people feel so consumed by school, work, and other activities that they are consumed by anxiety and stress. That’s where self care comes in.
“People all have different requirements for self-care, but in general, the goals of self-care are to find a state of good mental and physical health, reduce stress, meet emotional needs, maintain one’s relationships, both romantic and platonic, and find a balance between one’s personal and academic or professional life,” said Goodtherapy.com.
For many people, taking time for themselves can be difficult. They may consider taking time for themselves to be unrealistic or selfish. However, psychiatrists, therapists, and psychologists all preach the value of self-care.
“Meeting one’s own needs tends to make a person more able to help and support others and, generally speaking, to obtain more happiness and fulfillment from life,” said Goodtherapy.com. “It can be helpful to develop a self-care plan centered on three key components: physical, mental, and spiritual self-care.”
Heather Rhodes, a therapist who practices at Rago Associates in Naperville, sees the benefits of self-care in her patients everyday.
“The majority of my clients are in high school, maybe in seventh and eighth grades,” said Rhodes. “I really see the negative effects of school stress- it deteriorates both mental and physical health.”
Rhodes says most of her clients need a therapist is because of an environmental stressor. Sometimes this stressor is single event, like a divorce or death of a loved one, but it is more often just everyday stress.
“Simply put, schools are pushing kids to the brink,” said Rhodes. “Everyone and everything is so competitive, and kids are starting to focus more on their goals and less on themselves.’
It’s difficult to combat this mindset because Western society often encourages hard work and self-reliance. This isn’t necessarily bad, says Rhodes, but without self-care, people with this mindset can quickly spiral downward.
‘A lot of my clients come in and think they need to go on medication,” said Rhodes. “Meds don’t work nearly as well as self -care does. I have seen people completely transform just by caring for themselves.”
So what is self-care? According to Rhodes, it’s anything someone enjoys and loves to do. Taking a bath, writing in a journal, and listening to music are all examples. It doesn’t have to be anything big- just something that makes one happy.
“I usually tell my clients to start small by practicing self-care a few times a week,” said Rhodes. “Ideally, they will be practicing self-care everyday by the time they are in recovery.”