Regardless of your age or challenges, self-care can play a pivotal role in meeting or even exceeding those challenges. The simplest self-care, like pausing to take a deep breath or reassuringly placing your hand over your heart, might be all it takes. More highly developed self-caring skills and abilities, like replacing harshly critical and condemning self-talk with words of kindness, support, patience, and encouragement can activate courage and compassion—and diffuse fear and anxiety. Good healthcare, including eating well, getting enough rest and exercise, and calming our monkey minds, can put us in game shape for enjoying our best possible futures.

Self-care also involves knowing when to say "Yes" and when to say "No." Choosing well and taking concrete steps to prioritize your health and well-being can afford you the strength, energy, and resilience to face significant losses, changes, challenges, and setbacks. Making smart choices, we also harvest and build upon life’s greatest opportunities. Life may be an unpredictable affair, but caring for yourself is the best insurance you have for meeting and living well in each moment and day.

The importance of self-care has been evident for a........

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