"when self-care is not self-care"

What is your favourite way to relieve stress?

Have you ever found yourself indulging in your favourite stress reliever, only to feel jarred back to the terrible truth that your reality has not changed (and maybe even feels worse than ever)?

Did the stress reliever do its job and provide real comfort and rejuvenation?

Or did it numb you to temporarily ignore the tough things that needed to get done?

I think of self-care as the daily practices that help to temporarily relieve the accumulated stress of the day. Things like:

Going for a walk or a bike ride by the river

Getting a massage

Playing

Having a good laugh with a friend

Having a good cry

A morning coffee

Reading a novel in bed

But sometimes, I delve into numbing behaviours—like eating a whole bag of Miss Vickies’ sour cream and sweet chili chips and scrolling Youtube for Graham Norton and Michael McIntyre jokes (well, they DO make me laugh out loud).

The trick is to understand that self-care and numbing are different.

That’s been a big help to me with burnout.

Question: What is your favourite form of self-care?