The Resiliency Model Part One: Self-Preservation

“Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to know and believe that you have got to put on your oxygen mask first.”

Self-care is a buzz word that is all over the place as the solution to burnout. Some of the lines that I hear or have used myself frequently include:

“You have got to take care of yourself the way you take care of your patients.”

“Eat right, sleep more, stress less, exercise more, take time off.”

“Create a self-care plan.”

I used to consider self-care to be anything I do to take care of myself but over the past several months of coaching have realized that maybe not all burnout can be fixed with a prescription of self-care.

When I think of self-care, I think about doing things to improve health or wellbeing like reading books, spending time with friends, eating healthy foods, and traveling. However, when you are someone that has put yourself in a place of self-sacrifice, adding more things into a cup with holes in the bottom, will not work.

What I have found with many of my clients is the place to start is not self-care but with self-preservation.

Self-preservation is different from self-care because it speaks to preventing harm or death. I compare self-care to going to your…