You cannot pour from an empty cup

Self-care is so important; of course this isn’t just the case in Social Work.

It seems that we live in a society that encourages the hustle, always being busy, fitting more into the day or getting paid for everything we do. When I am working, I put 100% into everything I do but I think it’s also important that once I log off from the computer at the end of the day that I can also switch off. I remember when I very first qualified and I was having a conversation with someone, and I said that I log off at 5 o clock and when I step away from my desk and close the office door I am done. They responded and said but you’re a social worker and I said that I am a Social Worker and when I am in work time, I will be the best one I can be, I won’t just switch off at 5pm if I am in the middle of something or I need to get something finished but whenever I do log off for the day it’s important that I can switch off from my cases.

Don’t get me wrong my Social Work brain is running all of the time and I see things all around me in my day-to-day life but if I was constantly switched on to my cases I would burn out pretty quick. It’s the same as with everything else in life I cannot do it 24/7, we all need a rest. I need to know that I have techniques I can use to calm down after a tough day or decompress if I’ve not stopped all day. I have hobbies that I enjoy that although I am good at and have had comments made that I could be selling what I have made that’s not what I do it for. I do it for the enjoyment of the process and taking part in it as and when I feel like. As soon as it becomes part of the hustle it is no longer enjoyable, it’s also those hobbies that you enjoy but may not be particularly good at. Why can’t we do something just because it’s fun, for example I cannot sing, I am tone deaf but that does not stop me from getting up at karaoke and having a go or blaring music at home and singing at full volume. I don’t do it for getting paid I do it for the hormone boost I get, the enjoyment that it brings and that is enough.

I am a Social Worker and that is as much a part of me as anything else and it isn’t the type of job that you do and when you come home there is no connection with it. It’s impossible for it to be that way but there has to be a line, between home and work life otherwise I wouldn’t be able to function. I have a job where I cannot discuss it with my partner at the end of the day, so we have to find other things to talk about or do and that works for me. I like having random conversations about random things or playing a board game to fill the time, it’s what works for me, and I know that people are all different and that’s where finding what works for you is important. I find it so interesting when you ask someone what hobbies they enjoy, and they tell you they don’t have any. How do you fill your time?

Also, I think people have hobbies they don’t realise are hobbies because they get paid for them or they aren’t very good, or they aren’t specific. People class watching films as a hobby so why can’t watching TV be the same but the amount of people who will see something like this as a waste of time instead of something that you enjoy doing and choose to fill your time with. I like to think of time the same way I think of my home, I work out my mortgage payment and split it into the number of rooms in my house. If I wouldn’t pay the amount that room costs me per month to store the items in it then why are they taking up space. It’s the same with time, do I get enjoyment from the things I spend my time doing? If not, then why am I doing them, now don’t get me wrong there are certain things in life we don’t want to do that are part of being an adult but if I have a slot of free time how I choose to fill that should be my choice and guilt free. It should not be something that because I am not being “productive” I should be looked down on for.

I need that rest and relaxation time because you cannot pour from an empty cup.