Remembering Self-Care

I have said before that when I see, hear, or read the same message or theme in life, I tend to take notice.  It has happened again and this time the topic is self-care.  I have read many posts over the last few weeks about people trying to get back to taking care of themselves in the midst of the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  I can certainly relate to this, though I thought I had somewhat of a handle on it.

I was wrong.

I have found over the past week or so that I am taking much less time for me, and doing many other things that while they need to be done, (i.e. work, house chores, appointments, etc.), sometimes something just has to give.  There are only 24 hours in a day and while I could fill every bit of those hours being “productive”, the reality of the matter is I probably wouldn’t be all that productive without a bit of self-care added to the mix.

What is self-care?

I guess it depends on the person.  For me it is rest, relaxation, meditation, exercise, reading, writing, and just some general down time.  It also involves spending some time in nature either exercising, or just being outside (one of my favorite things to do).  Lately all of that has taken a back seat to work, getting caught up on things around the house, and other projects that I see daily that need to be done.  I know that I am far more stressed when I skip out on my self-care, but sometimes I get caught in this rut of being on the go, go, go, that I forget that if I don’t take the much-needed downtime then I won’t be go, go, going anywhere.

Point taken.

A dear friend of mine reminded me today that even squeezing a little bit of down time into my schedule could help me immensely.  She was right (as she is almost always).  So I am setting a new intention of doing at least one self-care item for myself each day.  This may involve a bubble bath, a long walk, extended meditation, or simply reading for 30 minutes, but I will fit it in.  Besides in the end the work, laundry, and my long list of to-do’s will be there when I am finished and I know I will come back feeling refreshed, and ready to focus.  In fact I know this to be true, because I tried it out already today.

I decided to take a 10 minute walk.  It wasn’t long and not enough to get my heart rate up, but just enough to get my blood pressure down (I’m assuming, I didn’t actually measure it), by being out in nature and enjoying some fresh air.  Combine the fresh air, a little walking, and the beauty of the clear skies and I am feeling like a new woman, so much that it makes me wonder why I let my self-care go for so long?  I guess the reason doesn’t matter because none of the reasons I can come up with will be good enough to let my health, (both mental and physical) suffer.

So there you have it.  As my work schedule gets a little more crazed I am going to make sure I work in those moments of self-care to ensure that I am not only taking time for me, but also not neglecting the people who mean the world to me (my son and partner).  Because let’s face it, life without joy and family, is not a life well-lived.