SELF-CARE AND HEALTH

Okay, so define self-care and health.  Seems fairly simple and self explanatory; self-care – taking care of oneself and health is not being sick.  Simple enough.  But when asked to actually define the two terms on a personal level, articulating their meaning becomes challenging and far more complex. 

What does self-care mean to me?  I wonder to myself what is the right answer.  I see lots of people talking about running and sweating on their blog posts.  That must be it.  But I hate running.  I try to love it, but I just don’t.  It’s true I feel accomplished after going for a run, but the entire time I’m doing it, I’m wondering, “Am I there yet?”.  I forget to even notice the scenery around me.  For me, it seems more like self torture.  Next.

Honeybee - picture taken by Rhonda Benke

I think back to our class when we were in our discussion groups, talking about what we do to take care of our selves.  I was talking about gardening and working outside and I was talking about bees.  I love bees.  I had 20 hives at one time but they met their demise two years ago, which was heart breaking.  There’s still a lot of uncertainty regarding colony collapse, but my feeling is and has been, the use of pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids, but I digress.  Being outside with the bees, with sweet smell of beeswax and only the sound of their hum around me was magical.  I could even tell what kind of mood they were in dependent on the frequency of their buzzing.  I would sit out with them for hours, methodically checking each hive, making sure each one had a Queen and the three stages of brood; egg, larvae and capped pupa, which would emerge into a brand new bee.  I would watch the new bees chew their way out of the wax cap and welcome each “baby bee” I saw.  I wouldn’t wear gloves so that when I took the frames out I could feel them under my fingers and make sure I wouldn’t squish anyone by mistake.  During the honey flow in late summer, I would take any extra comb that they built outside of their frames and pop it into my mouth, biting into the wax and releasing the delicious honey from inside.  I was like Winnie the Pooh!

My times working with the bees was just that, “my time”.  It was something that I enjoyed doing and gave me a sense of peace and I felt connected to nature.  I felt healthy. 

I knew I missed having bees but didn’t really realize to what extent they played a part in my self-care until I was able to share stories about them in our last HEAL class.  I came home after class and was still talking about them.  My husband loves listening to me talk about the bees and good thing too, because once I start, it’s so hard to get me to stop.  They’re just so darn cool!  I was probably talking about bees the entire drive home, despite being alone in the car.  That’s normal right?

I suppose I still haven’t really defined what self-care and health mean to me exactly.  What I can say is that by doing things that bring me to a place of peace and bliss is what enables me to care for myself.  And by caring for myself, I will be able to care for others.  It’s like the triangle that Randy described last class; one side is caring for self, another is caring for others and the third is allowing others to care for you.  At each level or side of the triangle, endorphins are being released giving one an overall feeling of calm.   When all sides are all in balance, you feel good and are capable of achieving and maintaining health and well-being in your life.    

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

        -Ferris Bueller, 1986. 

I am that girl that literally stops and smells the roses when I’m out for a walk, although it’s usually hyacinths in early spring and those gorgeous smelly pink lilies at the front of the grocery store.  The mountains still take my breath away every time I see them emerge from behind the clouded sky.  I take pleasure in the small things.

I like people, especially people that are funny.  More accurately, I like people who find humour in everyday things and aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves.  “Funny people” like stand-up comics tend to make me uncomfortable.  I’m always afraid that they’re going to hurt someone’s feelings. 

Like many, I enjoy being outside.  I’ve planted trees which I loved, no hated, no loved; I guess you could say it was a love/hate relationship.  It was hard work.  I was smelly (and not like a pink lily flower), dirty, bruised and broke.  But I got to see some of the most amazing and remote parts of B.C. that I will never forget.  The old growth forest of Haida Gwaii is one of those places. 

I love animals, all kinds, and I’m lucky enough to have a job as a Registered Veterinary Technician, that allows me to work with them and teach others to care for them too.  I am interested in pet therapy being more prominent in our health care system and would like to pursue this further.  I have tracked wolves through Algonquin Park, and for fun I’m a bee keeper.

I became interested in pursuing a Master’s of Education after completing the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program, (PIDP).  I knew I loved teaching, but I found that I also really enjoyed developing curriculum and finding creative ways to present my course material to my learners to keep them engaged.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit off balance.  I can’t explain it exactly, but I don’t feel like I am my best self, whatever that means.  The HEAL program seems like the perfect match to balance my inner hippie, my drive for continuous learning and the ability to share and receive knowledge and experiences with those around me.  I am looking forward to regaining a balance between my work and my life in a healthy way so that I can be the best Mum to my son and best friend to my husband.  I’ve heard on more than one occasion that this program can be life changing and I am so ready!