Growing up as a young woman in the beautiful city of Accra which is located in the West African country of Ghana, gave me so many perspectives of social issues. One of such issues evolved around women and the fact that they had little or no time for self-care. Women in the society I grew up “carried all the family’s well-being” on their shoulders at the expense of their health, aspirations and relaxation. I saw this manifest in the life of my mother and this gave me the determination to aspire to do better with self-care.

My father made it his duty to help out with house chores just to ease some of these burdens experienced by my mother but I must say, that this was just a tiny bit of what caused my mother’s lack of self- care. I always saw my mother who worked as a Librarian in one of the Universities get stressed out and often look tired. During the weekdays, she had the sole responsibility of making sure that everyone in the family was taken care of and on weekends she was also responsible for representing the family at social events such as wedding ceremonies, burials other extra-curricular activities at our schools.

This gave her little room to accommodate the things she loved doing or even staying healthy. As women, we should note that taking time off our busy family schedules to make time for self-care is not self- indulgence but rather self- preservation and as such, we should not feel guilty about it. At NewLife Project Inc., we are all about helping women gain a balanced life. Join our Women’s forum where we take time to discuss these issues and find innovative ways for women to balance their physical, mental, family and spiritual life.

Women can still take care of their families while taking care of themselves!

By Pamela Bissi

Coop student at NewLife Project Inc,

Centennial College, Scarborough, Toronto

info@newlifeprejectinc.org