I always admired the way a colleague of mine took care of herself and took care of her students too. She appeared to strike a good balance between self care and care for others. How did she do that?
First, she had a good routine that fit well with her energy, expectations, and family members.
Next, she drew boundaries. She clearly made the time she needed to meet the priorities of her position as well as her personal needs for self care too.
And, she was committed to both.
That colleague provided a good model to follow.
And, I assume that she was mentored by others who put self care top on the priority list. The way she spoke of her family members seemed to confirm that.
The truth as been told time and again is that we can't take care of others if we don't take care of ourselves--self care is critical when it comes to taking care of others. To achieve that self care, however, we may need to be imaginative as to how to fit in the time and place for that care as well as the care for others too.
In society, in many places, we still don't see the kind of positive self care examples that would lead us all better in that direction. Many workplaces still embrace unhealthy work environments, hours, and expectations. For example, in many societal arenas, people meet for all kinds of late-night hours--this is unhealthy for people's personal care and family care too. Also, insufficient time for healthy meals, personal breaks, and self-care tasks impedes self care. It takes good time and access to nutritious food and healthy lifeways to care for one's self.
In this time of increasing automatation in society, we should parallel that increase with an increase of structures that help people to care for themselves and others in healthy, happy ways. This will improve the way we live and what we can do for one another too.