Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean that you’re not also doing important work that advances the causes that are important to you; in fact, it’s a critical part of doing that work. Without self-care, you burn out—physically, but also through something known as “compassion fatigue,” which is basically just what it sounds like: When you focus too much time and energy on others in distress, you start to wear down, too. Which eventually means you have to stop doing work altogether.
