It seems to me that there have been a lot of conversations floating around the office this week about how to make time for self-care and really give ourselves over to living a healthy, balanced life.  I've also talked about ways to make self-care a priority when your scheduled gets busier.  It can be tempting--albeit an awful practice long-term--to think of self-care as a luxury rather than an essential part of our lives.  But over the years of actively developing my wellness routine, I have come to view self-care not as an indulgence but a necessity; to see it any other way is a form of self-inflicted violence. 

Sounds extreme, I know.  But really, if we don't take the time to tend ourselves--our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our souls--we deprive ourselves of living fully, deeply, meaningfully.  Why shouldn't we take as much pride in our self-nourishment as we do in our hard work?  Why shouldn't we carve out time to tend ourselves the same way we pencil in time to grade papers? 

In honor of these office conversations and my renewed efforts to tend to my personal wellness, I offer you three past blogs that celebrate self-care:

1.  On Things You Do to Unwind

2.  On Self-Care

3.  On Healing as Art

How do you care for yourself?