What is Self-Care and Why It’s Included in the Flourish Empowerment Model for ADHD Women
Understanding Self-Care
Self-care refers to practices that involve caring for one’s physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being. Contrary to common misconceptions, self-care is not just about indulgent activities like spa days or quiet retreats; it’s especially crucial for women with ADHD. For them, self-care is a necessary and intentional tool for navigating a world primarily designed for neurotypical minds. It often involves activities and habits that are vital for their overall well-being.
Why Self-Care Matters
- Avoid Burnout: The ADHD nervous system is prone to chronic stress, leading to burnout. Self-care helps manage this stress, preventing burnout, which is a challenging state to recover from.
- Be Your Best Self for Others: When women take care of themselves, they are happier and more regulated, allowing them to be better friends, partners, workers, and dreamers.
- Resilience against Life Stress: Self-care acts as protection, enabling women to bounce back faster from life’s stresses.
- Emotional Balance: It helps stay emotionally balanced, reducing the likelihood of Rejection of Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) and emotional dysregulation.
The Reality of ADHD Women’s Self-Care Needs
Women with ADHD face a higher risk of mental and health problems due to societal pressures and environments unfriendly to their neurodivergent nature. Often, they feel compelled to conceal their true selves to fit into a world that doesn’t understand or support them. Breaking the pattern of prioritizing others’ needs over their own is crucial in practicing self-care.
Challenges in Self-Care for ADHD Women
- Executive Functioning Challenges: ADHD can lead to difficulties in planning, remembering, and organizing, making self-care a secondary priority until it becomes a crisis.
- Pressure to Perform: There’s an unspoken expectation for women with ADHD always to achieve and mask differences, pushing self-care to the back burner.
- Intersectional Issues: Women with multiple marginalized identities face compounded societal pressures and systemic biases, making self-care seem more distant or even unattainable.
Reclaiming Self-Care in the Flourish Model
Our group and workbook sessions focus on exploring what self-care means for each individual and the steps they can take to practice it more effectively. This includes challenging societal and internal pressures, questioning the conditioning that urges women to serve others at their expense, and implementing systems to support their executive functioning.
The true work of ‘self-care’ is recognizing you are the only one who can give yourself permission to take back your time and energy
Four Core Foundations of Self-Care in the Flourish Model
- Nourishing Yourself: Prioritizing feeding and hydrating oneself.
- Resting: Incorporating periods of rest, which may include solitude, creativity, connecting with friends, or engaging in special interests.
- Sleep: Ensuring adequate sleep, is essential for mood and executive functions.
- Movement: Engaging in physical activities to move the body.
Conclusion
Self-care is a vital component of the Flourish Empowerment Model for ADHD women. It goes beyond mere indulgence; it’s about creating a sustainable, balanced lifestyle that caters to the unique needs of neurodivergent women. By embracing self-care, women with ADHD can not only manage their symptoms better but also enhance their overall quality of life.