Mental and Physical Health

Self-care has become an industry with products, advice and influencers that, like pretty much everything else in modern life, is looked at in terms of how much money can be made out of it by the providers. At it’s heart, however, it is very simple. It is about keeping yourself fit and doing things to provide relaxation for body and mind. We are  persuaded to give it a kind of mystical aura by the overblown language around the subject, chief of which is the term used here, self-care. It is a buzz word and, like so many buzz words it is invented by commerce.

Let’s break it down to it’s simple components. First of all, mental health. This does not mean being permanently happy or permanently relaxed. It means having resilience so when things get tough you are able to deal with them without causing yourself too many long or short term problems. For many people these reserves of resilience are there naturally but for others they are not and here is where the concept of self-care can be useful. I have often mentioned that I use a Calm App and have done for about two years. I listen to the Daily Jay almost every night and even if I don’t find Jay Shetty’s ideas persuasive, the deep mindful breaths at the beginning and the meditation at the end have made a huge difference to my sleep quality. Before, I used to have episodes of broken sleep and I often felt like I hadn’t slept at all. Now, I know that a lot of my problems were caused by the stress of work and now I don’t work full time a lot of my mental resilience has recovered but whilst I was working Calm made a demonstrable positive impact on my mental wellbeing.

One interesting area of mental and physical health is where they come together as they do in Yoga. I have been practicing Yoga on and off for about 20 years but it is only since I have semi-retired that I have been able to focus on building it into my routine four or five days a week. It has helped my flexibility enormously and it has had a similar effect on my mental health. As with any other area of self-care it has been monetised but it is so easy to do at home by yourself and as long as you can find a book in a charity shop or guidance online you can put it into practice at whatever level you want. One thing you must do is listen to your body. I have had intermittent problems with my shoulder so I have changed one of the suggested exercises for another that has less impact on the joint.

In terms of physical health I have recently taken my old Bullworker out of retirement and I am finding it really useful in terms of building up my muscles steadily and carefully. Doing it slowly is absolutely essential because it is a huge temptation to go too fast and you end up having to stop. Once that happens it is the devil’s own job to start once again.

Good luck with your mental and physical fitness journey. Just ignore the self-care industry and you will be fine.