Thomas, one of my companions, told me recently: “These past eighteen years I have worked day and night without any rest. I have killed myself working. Now I am sick. I am going to ask my superiors to give me a break and relieve me of the post I am holding.”
From our young age the importance of hard work is drilled into us. Take, for example, the story of the team of ants and the grasshopper. The ants work hard all through summer, storing up food for winter, while the grasshopper goes around playing. When winter comes, the ants are happy as they have enough food, while the grasshopper languishes in hunger. While stories like this are meant to teach not only the importance of working hard but also of the need to give proper place to work and relaxation in our life, we somehow associate hard work with working without taking any rest.
The importance of work is driven home to us also through the motto some of our founders and foundresses have given us like “Pray and Work” (St. Benedict); “Work and Temperance” (Don Bosco). While the need to work hard remains imprinted in our mind and we feel guilty if we do not do so, we forget the lesson we have learned through proverbs like: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Self-Care is a Duty
Superiors are duty-bound to take care of others. In the process, they run the risk of not taking care of themselves, as it happened to my companion. Actually, it is a duty to take care of ourselves. We have an obligation to look after ourselves. A duty is an act or course of action that we have to do because it is good and right to do it. Taking care of ourselves is a duty, because by doing so we value ourselves, nurture ourselves, grow properly in the various dimensions of our life and are able to make our contribution in this world. It is our way of appreciating what God has given us and honouring God. If we do not care for ourselves, we are relinquishing the responsibility we have for our well-being and abandoning ourselves to be hurt and damaged. Therefore, it is important that we take self-care seriously.
Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB
To read the entire article, click Subscribe
