There was an article about some of the nurses at my old hospital having gone through the shooting death in the lobby in 2023. They talked, as psych nurses do, about the self care and care of each other that is needed to just get through but still "be available" for their patients. One supervisor told the others "You can't pour from an empty cup." I think that part about caring for each other is true. I am suspicious of self-care, however much it is on everyone's lips these days.
Perhaps the opposite is also true, or more true. It may be that we can only pour from an empty cup. The cup-filling, cup-pouring analogy might lead us away from the truth. Scripture uses the analogy of an overflowing cup, but also one of being an empty vessel.
3 comments:
You are going to have to expand on this if I'm to understand this post. You are dubious about self-care because it's an excuse to shirk your duty? Or what?
No, that it might not work as advertised. "Self-care" is an elastic phrase and I might approve of some versions but not others. Just getting away might be self care. Just being wise about the amount of time you have might be self-care. But what is usually advertised is that doing something nice "for yourself" will make you better able to be generous. I think a lot of self-indulgence, which will weaken your compassion, is marketed under self-care. I would blame the advertisers, but I have heard plenty of people in the helping professions use things like "me time" as an excuse. I am actually at my best at the end when the choices are clear, and am more likely to be irritable over small things that take me by surprise.
Given that a major ethical temptation is to favor one's own interests/pleasures/desires over duty to others, it does seem as if "self-care" invites a host of questionable temptations. There's probably an important point to be made somewhere about "Don't beat yourself up too much about things that are only somewhat in your control," or even "It's worthwhile to invest in your health and well-being," but it's an easy slide to "You really should do something nice for yourself."
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