Boyle McCauley News

Since 1979 • April-May 2024 • Circulation 5000

Donate

Abundant Self-Care

Modern life is fast-paced and a lot of us struggle with finding balance between busyness and peace, but it should be a priority for all to truly evaluate the things that bring contentment and rest to our often tired souls.

Self-care looks different for everyone. For some, it involves communing with nature, or getting a massage, or unplugging from technology, and for others it is simply taking a nap. There is no wrong way to practice self-care and it changes moment to moment, based on what the need is.

Therein lies the challenge: we need to be self-aware enough to know when to pump the breaks, and figure out what it will take to return to equilibrium. But we also need the discipline to pause long enough to sufficiently refill our tanks so we have the fuel to keep on the journey – happy and healthy.

For me, there are two types of self-care that I continuously return to time and time again.

Practising Creativity
As an artist, practising creativity comes fairly easily, but I will spend the rest of my life preaching that every one of us has a creative talent – even if it’s possessor doesn’t know they have it. One of our main jobs as humans is to find what that creative talent is and spend the rest of our lives pursuing it for the pure joy it brings. I encourage everyone to think outside the box. Creativity is infinitely more vast than painting a picture. Anything that involves creative experimentation qualifies as a way to practise self-care.

Socializing
Speaking as an introvert, it took me quite a while to catch onto this one. But the older I get, the more I realize that making a true connection with someone helps me feel that I’m not alone in my struggles. Having an encouraging, uplifting conversation with a kindred spirit is rejuvenating. The thing I’m also learning is that social interaction takes intention, and when life gets busy and I fail to make time to nurture and be nurtured by my support system, I will inevitably experience a down turn in my mental health.

As Neighbourhood Connector, something that I would like to bring to our community is the space for our residents to experience a combination of creative and social self-care opportunities through the venue of community-led workshops. Creative workshops offer a laid back setting that provides the opportunity to gain knowledge, nurture friendships, and learn new, fun skills – all things that play an important part of practicing self-care.

If you would like to learn more about the workshops offered in our community, or how you can contribute to teaching or organizing a workshop, please email me at abundantcommunitymccauley@gmail.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter

News from the neighbourhood delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up and stay in touch!