Self- Care in the Age of Quarantine
Updated: Jun 9, 2020
Self- care is one of those words, at one time, that had a high level of regard in terms of how one could describe the way in which they tend to their mental, physical, and spiritual needs. Within the last 3 years, as the word has been ever present in the main stream, the strength or value of the term has shifted magnificently. It somehow became equivalent with pamper driven, cost directed products, routines, and services. Self-care has become commercialized and capitalized.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the world is going through a major shift, and whatever privilege's that people had in terms of their monetized self-care, has been put on hold. All over the world, nations, towns and cities are on quarantine, as an act of protection against the Corona Virus which began to impact our world in November 2019. 5 months later, over a 1.3 million people have been impacted directly as hosts of the virus, and about 75,000 have died.
With quarantine, has come closure of all non-essential businesses, and for many, that includes the businesses they would frequent in the name of self- care. Salons, spas, gyms, restaurants, concert halls, performing arts centers, movie theaters, museums, and I could go on. For some, that even includes traveling, but we know the danger and impact of any person-to-person or outside surface contact at this time.
On top of stressors such as changes in employment, financial security, and adapting to being inside, there may also be the existence of stressors on both interpersonal and interpersonal relationship dynamics. Some are managing relationships within their home, or facing difficulty of not being in the physical presence of relationships that matter. Needless to say, if there was a time to really understand and implement self-care, now is surely an important time and opportunity.