Page 18 - Kingdom News Edition 8.pdf

W to clear her mind and destress. Now that her business-
e find ourselves busier than ever before.
We have color coded pie charts and cal-
es are successful she takes frequent vacations with
endars to keep up with everyone’s
family and friends.
schedules because we are juggling fami-
lies, careers, ministry, side hustles, social events and I have had individuals tell me they feel guilty about
more. The mere mention of self-care raises an eye saying no or even taking time for themselves. Why?
brow because we have no idea how to fit into our al- Because it has been engrained that family and others
ready hectic lives. It is important to remember if we come first. Biblical teaching instructs us to deny our-
do not make self-care a priority we will not be around selves, be givers of ourselves and servants to others.
for our loved ones and those we serve. By all intense and purposes this is good teaching.
However, no one should be made to feel guilty for
Raphailia Michael, MA shared that self-care is the taking care of their well- being. The Bible also says
key to living a balanced life and defined it as any that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, mean-
activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of ing we have to love ourselves first in order to love
our mental, emotional, and physical health. Although others. The same goes for serving others, we need to
it’s a simple concept in theory, it’s something we very take care of self in order to have the strength and en-
often overlook. Good self-care is key to improved durance to help others.
mood and reduced anxiety. It’s also key to a good re-
lationship with oneself and others. When a warning light comes on in our car we take it
to a mechanic. Clearly, we are not cars. We are hu-
Many who have dedicated their lives to Kingdom
work, graciously give of themselves to the point of mans whose minds/bodies require regular mainte-
depletion. They pay a hefty price for the call. After nance. Situations will arise that cause life’s scale to be
caring for the needs of others they find themselves in unbalanced. This means we must be intentional about
need of the very thing they give. This is by no means a achieving balance. We must tend to our emotional,
call to abandon responsibility but rather for reform. physical and spiritual needs in order to operate at our
One needs to become aware of the warning signals optimal best for our loved ones. Therefore, IMHO (in
that indicate your system is operating on overload and my humble opinion) self –care is not selfish, but it is
on the verge of crashing. It may be a simple fix like necessary.
delegating, adjusting appointments, saying NO, not
right now or taking a vacation to lessen the stress.

I recall when my cousin Tammy was working a full
time job and growing her businesses. She would put in
long hours. There were times I would call and she
would say, “Girl I just got back from a mini vacation
and it was good.” The fact that we had our ritual 6 am
phone call that morning I knew she had not gone on an
actual vacation. Whenever she started to feel over-
whelmed she would take a mini break right at her
desk. She would drift off to her favorite get – a -ways.
Those precious moments gave her to the opportunity