You all know what meme I'm about to toss off, I don't even have to hint at it.
Even if you don't watch Parks and Rec (which you should, stop sleeping on that) you probably get the picture. Treating yourself means face masks, a bottle of rose and cancelling plans to watch Netflix, right? What does that old dead white dude we learned about in our Philosophy 101 course have to do with all that?
Those are all amazing things, but true self care means taking care of yourself. Becoming a boss is a lot of responsibility and takes a lot of self love. Basically, self care means becoming your own parent. You create guidelines for yourself in order to stay healthy and achieve your goals in life- and hopefully find happiness from it!
Aristotle's virtue theory is just that.
I'm going to hyperlink to Crash Course's take on virtue theory, and the Sparknotes page for Nicomachean Ethics Book II in case you want more background on what his views were.
Essentially, virtue theory is about balance and how to be a good person. He defines a moral life as a man of virtue who does virtuous things and ultimately gets happiness and pleasure from it. He has an emphasis on virtues such as generosity and bravery.
Yet, he recognizes that men can't always act in those extremes. This is where balance comes in and man looks for that middle ground.
Ok, so what does that mean for me?
I thought you'd never ask. You love your friends at school, right? You'd probably bend over backwards for them. But sometimes, you just can't. You might be sick, or have a million and ten commitments, or whatever happens to knock you down. You aren't in a position to help them. That doesn't mean you should leave them high and dry, but make sure you leave time for yourself as well, or ask for a raincheck.
Some people see this as selfish, but if you connect it to examples of physical peril, that stigma goes away. If you saw someone fall into a frozen lake, you'd obviously help them. But, unless you're a trained professional, it wouldn't be smart to dive in after them- you'd both be screwed. You always can't ignore it- that's just horrible. The smart ,middle ground would be to call for help.
Never forget to take care of yourself among all the studying, organizations and everything else that's important to your life. You deserve the time, respect and love you're giing to all those external forces.
So, basically, all this to say....
TREAT. YO. SELF.
