‘Self-care is recognizing you need self-care and taking the steps’

For journalist Sarah Maslin Nir, recognizing that you need self-care is the first step. Nir discussed the importance of self-care for journalists with fellow New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi at an Institute program on how memoir writing can transform trauma into healing:  

“I’m the daughter of a psychiatrist and a psychologist. I think for me, self-care is recognizing you need self-care and taking the steps. I’m not particularly good to myself because we’ve been going going, going — both Rukmini and I — on covering, you know, racial and civil unrest, and me the virus in New York City. I was all pleased with myself — and definitely a little hubristic — I had a front page story on the virus as soon as I recovered. I wrote, I crowed, ‘take that virus!’ And then I had a relapse. I don’t think as journalists we take very good care of ourselves because taking care of the story is a sort-of taking care of ourselves, but recognizing that you need to is the first step, and I’ll get better the rest.”