It’s rare that we all share a common stressor, though we did to an extent during the hurricane season in fall 2017, which challenged the ability of many of us South Florida psychologists to maintain (and later re-establish) valued self-care routines. We may overlook its importance in the course of a packed or overwhelming day, week, or month. We may also have complex lives with many competing personal demands on our time. Despite this awareness, many of us thrive amid professional demands that are antithetical to good self-care. Those of us who see patients or clients often assess how they care for themselves, and may recommend a healthy self-care regimen as a first step in treating mood disturbances, anxiety, and many other presenting concerns.
As students and scholars of psychology, we understand that taking care of ourselves is vital to all aspects of our functioning, including providing service to others. Anyone who has flown on a commercial airplane has heard the safety briefing, with its included instruction to “Make sure your air mask is secure before helping others.” Intuitively, most people hearing this instruction understand its meaning: we need to stabilize ourselves before we can allow others to rely on us.
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