Shaynelle George MSc. Counselling Psychology
Director Down Syndrome Family Network
The month of October is Down Syndrome Awareness month. As we come to the end of the month of celebrating these unique individuals and promoting awareness and inclusion, let us not forget our parents who are tasked with raising these beautiful and loving children.
A big part of ensuring that we are able to fulfill all of our parenting duties and tasks can only be achieved by looking after our Mental Health. Mental health is sometimes such a taboo subject that we often dismiss the signs and symptoms and in many cases it is often disregarded. When raising children, we become so consumed with taking care and providing for them that we neglect the most important person ourselves and self-care.
So what is self-care, self-Care is defined as the practice of taking action to preserve one’s well-being, happiness and mental health. It is often difficult to keep track of our mental health because our mental health is not something like our physical health. In terms of physical health it is easy for us to wake up and identify that you are feeling ill and in most cases know exactly what it is however in terms of our mental health most times we are unable to identify and even ignore the signs of emotional or mental wear and tear. We ignore our feelings often brushing them off until our body reacts and we shut down. It is important for each person to know and be able to identify when they are feeling overwhelmed and to acknowledge these feelings and allow for “me time” and not feel guilty for having done so.
Self-care is something that we need to do in order to live a balanced life. It is also important to note that self-care is something that needs to be actively planned and not something that just happens as it should be an active choice. It is also important to understand that self-care is different for each person.
Not everyone has to understand the things that you may consider to be self-care. If self-care is not part of your regular routine it may be difficult for one to be established however here are some tips that you can put in place order to create a self-care routine:
Get enough sleep
Create a “no” list of things you don’t like or may no longer want to do e.g.
not reading emails at night, not answering calls after a certain time etc.
Spend time with loved ones.
Do an activity everyday/ every week that you may find pleasurable.
Do one relaxing activity everyday
Eating healthy
Spend time alone
No matter what you choose, it is important to incorporate self-care into your routine as a priority like all other activities. When it comes to being a parent taking time to ensure that you are functioning as best as you can both physically and mentally is beneficial to both yourself and your family.
If your mental health teacup is empty it is impossible for your family’s mental health cup to be full.