We can outsource our cooking, our cleaning, the maintenance and servicing of our car, even the babysitting, caring of, and teaching our children.

We cannot and I repeat, we cannot outsource the care of ourselves.

No one is going to make good choices for us.

In fact, no one else is going to decide what a good choice means for us, and if they did (through coaching, mentoring or prescription, which is sometimes necessary and readily available, including here at Myall) it can still only be us that makes the decision to do, take, or implement that thing.

Self-care is, therefore, a self-responsibility.

It is not reactive, it is creative.

It is not rigid, but adaptive.

It is not a chore, but a privilege to make a decision to develop a better relationship with ourselves that represents compassion, nourishment, rest, a healthy amount of stress that activates growth, and necessary discipline (whether this is “to do” or “not to do”).

This simple truth is this, no-one knows us better than we know ourselves, and this makes for a huge responsibility. I once read a quote that said, “we are not out of shape, we are the exact shape of our choices” and this goes beyond the shape of our physical body, to me this represents the shape and health of our entire world and all that it involves.

Your care for “your self” is your responsibility, just as mine is my own. And what a wonderful return of investment this responsibility can be.

Author: Kelly Dalby – Holistic Health Practitioner