Haiku: Self-care
July 6, 2009
Cleanse thy mind, eat well.
Move, rest, heal thy person. Seek!
Know thyself better.
SELF-CARE
by Jeric Mina
DS 123: Health, wellness and Filipino culture
Self-care is self-explanatory – it is about taking care of your own health. In a society increasingly moving towards the delegation of responsibility to “professionals”, the self risks losing control over itself and its most vital component.
Self-care, when judiciously done, is not only economical but also practical and empowering. By encouraging yourself and others to be physically and mentally fit, by eating right, practicing proper hygiene, avoiding health hazards and taking care of minor ailments (like colds and superficial wounds), we are lessening the burdens of our already burdened health care system, saving resources and knowing ourselves better. It adds to our total wellbeing by giving us more responsibility and control on how we ought to live. Despite of our physical and financial limitations we get to enjoy life to the fullest, with ill health not getting in the way.
Self-care is something we all do. And, as with all the things we must do, we must be good at it. We cannot afford to make mistakes with our bodies, but neither can we let others do the same. There are many sources of prescriptions to self-care like from medicine, traditions and religion. But from whatever sources we may draw on, we must have guiding principles: the initiative to seek more knowledge, the need to listen to our own bodies, the realization of our limitations, and the will to choose and act for our betterment.
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