Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay
by Ieisha Beasley, DSW, LCSW
My commitment to and investment in self-care as a lifestyle has been my lifeline these past few months, as I’ve encountered an exceptionally stressful period with significant life challenges and crises. During this time, I realized how my previous engagement in self-care prepared me to power up for the resiliency needed in phases like this one.
Facing Challenges
Lately, my journey and practice of self-care has been critical in my stability and ability to exude resiliency. To keep it real, the last few months have been some of the most difficult of my life—and life has not been “easy.” However, my sound self-care adherence has been essential to continuing to ethically navigate my roles and responsibilities—especially as a clinical social worker and educator—without my own overall health being jeopardized.
A few months ago, I had major surgery, with significant recovery time. This medical health crisis reverberated into challenges in all areas of life. Additionally, compounding events propelled me into moving family needs to the forefront. At the same time, I was offered exciting professional opportunities and remained committed to ongoing professional commitments. All this stress happened while navigating the complexities of the changing landscapes of mental health care and maintaining integrity and student support in my academic role.
Yet, instead of spiraling down, I’m finding myself powering up! It’s not that I haven’t felt highly stressed; it’s that I’m navigating this stress differently than in the past. Instead of neglecting my self-care, I’m gaining momentum in my commitment to self-care over these last few months.
Fostering Resiliency
I’m finding that self-care is the cushion that softens the effects of this stress. It’s the calming energy that allows me to be present. It’s the generative seed that helps me persevere and remain positive. Self-care is the lifeline of power that’s a primary source of my resilience.
To be resilient means that one has the ability to adapt to distressing life experiences without significantly compromising mental, emotional and behavioral stability. Resiliency is a process that can be strengthened with access to viable resources, healthy coping strategies, and how one views and processes the world around them. The important and impactful connection between self-care and resiliency is increasingly documented.
Recently, I’ve been compelled to reflect on this interdependence. As my self-care practice shifts and expands, my resilience both fosters and mirrors this expansion. It creates a necessary foundation for expected AND unexpected challenges that will come in a full life.
Powering Up
Here are some key points for Powering Up for Resiliency that I’m learning in this phase of my self-care journey:
- Stay ready: Having a self-care practice in place creates increased opportunity to successfully recover from hardships. When asked, “What do you need?” the answer could be help with maintaining your self-care.
- Form Habits: When you make self-care a lifestyle, practicing daily self-care strategies becomes increasingly innate. It is habit-forming, which can automatically support mental well-being, emotion management, and positive behavioral choices.
- Remember You’re THE Boss: No matter the external challenges, your self-care practice is owned and operated by you. You’re the CEO of Self-Care. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to communicate the boundaries and parameters of your needs. Be accountable and compassionate (including to your self!), and be flexible. Be your Best Boss!
- Claim Your Role as an Influencer: Loved ones, friends, co-workers, and everyone you encounter can benefit from your self-care practice and resiliency. They will be influenced to consider their own self-care practice and may ask for support and tips. This influence has a compounding effect on your own self-care investments.
Resiliency is not a fixed construct or static experience. As you embrace a self-care practice that you feel good about, resiliency increases. You become equipped with a tool box of strategies, techniques, approaches, and supports to call upon. Increasingly, you’ll also have evidence that you can be responsive to difficult moments without compromising your well-being.
We all face exceptionally stressful periods of life. How will you use the lifeline of self-care to power up your resiliency?
Dr. Ieisha Beasley
Dr. Ieisha Beasley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in Louisville, KY. She provides a host of services related to mental and behavioral health and is a part-time instructor with the University of Kentucky, College of Social Work.