How to look after yourself

"What does it mean to look after yourself?

Daily routine can be draining and stressful. Whether you're at home, at work, bringing up children or studying, it's essential to take care of your emotional and physical health. In a crisis - when a relationship breaks down or someone's been made redundant, for instance - it's even more important to be physically and mentally ready to deal with uncertainty and disruption. Unless you look after yourself, you may run into difficulty.

To look after yourself mean examing your present way of life and assessing how you can make improvements. There aree various ways of doing this:

• Work out which situation, people, activities and environments damage or improve your physical and mental health.
• Decide to make some changes by altering or eliminating what you feel is damaging you
• Concentrate on, and add to, the postive things in your life

Take into account and balance the many important parts of your life, so that you don't feel pulled in different directions
This does not guarantee a problem-free life. However, it may lead you to be more aware when things are beginning to go wrong and how you can best cope with them.

Sometimes 'looking after yourself' can be regarded as a selfish activity. But, unless we take care of our own needs, we can't truly care for others."