The reason airplanes don’t fall from the sky isn’t because of the headline-grabbing heroics of pilots. They stay in the air because of checklists, routine maintenance, and a thousand invisible actions that happen before the engines even start.
That’s self care.
It’s not a luxury spa day, or a vacation tagged on Instagram. It’s the unglamorous, consistent work of noticing: water instead of soda, rest instead of doomscrolling, curiosity instead of cynicism.
We confuse healthcare with crisis response—hospitals, diagnoses, insurance codes. That’s part of the system. But self care is the system before the system. It’s the investment that reduces the need for rescue. This isn’t speculation. Its fact.
Just 2.5 hours of light physical activity can lower mortality risk by 19%. About 20 minutes of walking a day.
Minimal input. Massive output.
Skipping it works, until it doesn’t.
And the thing about maintenance is that it only works if it’s minimal, regular, and almost invisible. The discipline to do the small, quiet work pays off far more than the drama of waiting for something to break.
