How do you look after yourself?

The joy of being a kid is that you get to outsource the decision making and caretaker decisions of your life to someone else. Sometimes this can be annoying but when you think about it, it’s actually quite nice to not have to think about any of these things yourself.

I realise now as a responsible adult looking after yourself is a far more complex idea than I originally thought.

First up you have to think about maslows basic hierarchy but within that deciding what to eat, when to sleep, when to exercise, how much of all of these things you need is a complex question in and of itself.

This thought struck me the other day as I was feeling guilty about some job or other that I hadn’t done and I realised that if we are being really honest I wasn’t being a very good boss or parent to myself. I needed to rest, but I needed the adult part of me to put the tantruming child part of me to bed. Confusing right.

When it comes to growing up figuring out how to look after ourselves isn’t one of the biggest challenges we have. When we have all the choice what is the right choice for us. Where should our boundaries be when we are the adult that has to put them in? Where are we protecting ourselves when were the adult that has to decide that one more sugary drink is going to send us over the edge.

In short I don’t have any answers but I do know that the more I think about the question the more and more I get clearer on how to look after myself even if it’s just realising that now that is my responsibility in the first place.

Which of course is where it all starts.