By Deborah Hide-Bayne
I remember that some days when my boy was very small, I felt really cut off from myself. It felt like all of me was on hold whilst I put everything I had into dressing, washing, feeding, cooking and cleaning. For a long time, I felt I was constantly giving more than was really healthy for me.
On a UK podcast recently, I came across the idea of the ‘Bank of Me’ and it really struck a chord… I’ve heard about energy in and energy out – the idea that food and drink build up your energy bank that you can then use for activity, but what was new was the idea that it might apply to other things like patience, kindness or wellbeing.
If self-care is like a bank account where savings are the daily practices that support you and give you a sense of control and autonomy, and spending is the stress and busyness of daily life, are you usually in credit or debit?
Everyone talks about self-care all the time now, but does it really work like that? Could being more regular in my self-care, allow me to be my best self more often?
What is your routine every day? Perhaps you feel stuck at home with a small child or children and unable to have any time for yourself.
But here’s the challenge: maybe there could be a single thing or two or three things every day that you make time to do that put savings into the ‘Bank of Me’.
You’ll be the best judge of what those things need to be.
