Why Self-Care Is So Important For Black Women

One of the worst things that we do, as black woman, is neglect ourselves. Self-care for black women often gets put on the backburner as we attend to the people that we love. It is just what we are conditioned to do as mothers, wives, and caregivers. But, doing this is not good. It is very important for black women to love themselves and to care for themselves. The old adage “If I don’t do it, who will?” pretty much sums up the harsh reality of life as a black woman.

Contrary to what we have been told in times past, we need to make self-care our priority. It should be a daily part of our lives. But, getting beyond just knowing that it should be done, why is self-care for black women so important? Sister, let us fill you in on that right now!

Sanity and Self-Care for Black Women Go Hand-in-Hand

Be honest with yourself. Surely it is not easy for you to function at your optimal level when your brain is fried and you are feeling overwhelmed. But, what do you do when you’re feeling like that? Do you take the time to slow things down and gain greater perspective? Well, you should! That is when you definitely need to take care of yourself, otherwise, your reactions to things could be more extreme and less rational. Of course, nobody wants that. 

Self-Care Tip For Black Women To Try – Stop what you are doing and take a few moments alone to breathe and meditate. Realize that you may not be able to FIX everything at once, but you will handle things a lot better when you have perspective and can see things in a different light.

You Can’t Have Good Self-Esteem Without Good Self-Care

When you don’t take time for yourself, you will begin to put your own expectations and preferences down. You won’t see that what YOU think and how YOU feel is as important as the thoughts and feelings of others. It is just natural for you to start to devalue yourself and along with that comes a feeling of being less. That’s not healthy and eventually, you will begin to have lower self-esteem and self-worth. You will feel awful and it will show through in how you present yourself to others.

Self-Care Tip For Black Women To Try – Take time and DO YOU! That’s right! Pamper yourself and if you want to really go all out, have a photoshoot. Put on your best face and speak positively about yourself. Part of truly taking care of yourself is LOVING YOURSELF. You are the best YOU that ever existed.

Healthy Eating Is A Major Part of Self-Care

They say, “you are what you eat.” While that is not the whole story when it comes to our diets, the reality is that if you fill yourself with junk, you will not be the healthiest you. Yes, we know, sweets taste amazing. We cannot live happily without them, but they can be detrimental to our long-term health. Also, kiss those processed foods goodbye. Yes, girl, we have to minimize that stuff that comes from boxes and all of the “foods” packed full of salt in cans. They are literally cutting our life span and causing our bodies to work overtime trying to properly digest that stuff. We don’t need all of that garbage. We have to take care of our vessels so that our vessels will take care of us!

Self-Care Tip For Black Women To Try – Eat better. Now, that doesn’t mean you cut out everything that you like or love. But, just don’t eat so much of it and do a little more to incorporate greens and healthier food in your diet. Small changes make big differences!

But, the most important reason why self-care is so important for black women is because you cannot do your best for those you love if you don’t love yourself. So, let’s do better, Sisters…for OURSELVES! We deserve it.