OAM Self-Care Strategies
Self-care is a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being.
May is recognized as OAM: Older Americans Month.
There are 8 types of self-care: physical, social, spiritual, emotional, home environment, financial, work/school/caregiving, or other responsibilities that the older adult may be involved in.
Older adults are familiar with biological aging: that’s the way our bodies naturally change over time.
We also have psychological aging, which is our subjective age, our age identity based on our own perception of how we feel. So when someone asks how old you are, you have options now! There’s your chronological age, and then there’s the age you feel!
Your perception of your age, how you think about how old you are, affects your health decisions in general.
There’s also social aging, how society determines or helps to shape how you understand your age. It includes social expectations, how society expects us to age or behave. It also includes assumptions those around us may have for how we should behave, what we are like, what we can do, or what we should or shouldn’t be doing at that age.
Today I want to give you some self-care tips that relate to celebrating Older Americans Month, five self-care strategies!
Maintaining your friendships. Who haven’t you made contact with in a while? Send a card or give them a phone call!
Get your regular exercise! Walk your talk and get out there. If you’re in NWPA, like I am, get outside and enjoy these beautiful days.
Keep a balanced diet. (More on this later in the month!!)
Ask for help, and accept it when it’s offered. Think of yourself as your own best friend. I’ve found a new best friend, and that is myself! I love going to a movie with myself! Which leads me to my fifth strategy.
Plan something you can look forward to! Regardless of where you are in this chronological, psychological, and social aging journey, give yourself something to celebrate!
Follow along with the week’s posts at facebook.com/totalcoveragetraining, and consider checking out the 5-Week Summer Blueprint, my new workout series to get ready for summertime!