One Word: Stress. We live in such a fast-paced, results driven world that Stress has been rising at an alarming rate across all generations. From The Boomers to Gen Z-ers, our digitally filled society seems to have put us all at an all time high stress level. I recently came upon an interesting paragraph from the American Psychological Associations net page, and these sentences stuck out for me: "In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the importance of self-care for psychologists and other mental health professionals. With the growth of positive psychology and preventive medicine, self-care is an emerging topic, promulgated as a means of avoiding the adverse effects of stress and promoting professional functioning and well-being."
This might help you a LOT! Susannah Winters on TED Talks, is one of my Favorites on Self-Care and truly how easy it is possible to get and be actually free:
I remember when it was called Self-Help! But then, I've been practicing Mindfulness before it had a label! ;). Okay. So we are stressed. But what's the answer? How do we treat our stresses when we have NO TIME!? Ah, yes. We MAKE the time, or so says so many of my self-CARE gurus I've read or listened to or watched over the years.
According to the referenced journal, there was a study conducted in Illinois and from it: "...a 5-factor, 21-item scale was created. Factor analysis identified the following self-care factors: Professional Support, Professional Development, Life Balance, Cognitive Awareness, and Daily Balance. Preliminary analyses provided initial support for the validity of the 5 factors."
Here's a simpler way I have found, albeit not always easy it may be a bit manageable. Life Balance, well, not so manageable, right? How to get one kid to Girl Scouts, the other to Soccer practice, get out of work because you have to go to teacher conferences, then you're worried about if you'll still have your job, which you need in order to pay for all those items we really don't need, but kinda want? I know. That's a shortened version.