There has been a LOT of talk about self-care in the past few months.
You know why?
Because it's really, really flippin' important.
For me, there are two parts to helping myself live life in a positive manner.
Step one involves doing things:
- Working out. It's good for me both physically and mentally and I need to make it a priority.
- Paint my freakin' toenails. It's a small thing that I somehow haven't made time for recently and somehow having cracked polish on my toenails makes me feel like my entire life is just a mess.
- Reading my Bible. I've been working on reading the entire Bible, front to back, for almost 3 years. I'm within 100 pages of finishing it (although for some reason, Revelation kind of terrifies me).
- Plan my workout outfits for the week. This makes my mornings so much easier and just takes away the rushing around.
- Ditto for the baby.
- Spending time with friends. I don't do this NEARLY enough. I need it.
- Finding inspirational podcasts/books/etc.
- Taking time to stop and play with my LO and making her giggle.
Step two involves letting shit go:
- Letting go the fact that my family member tells me I'm "doing it wrong" when it comes to parenting.
- The fact that their is dirt on my floor...I have dogs and a kid and I was never Mrs. Clean anyway.
- The idea that I have to be Miss Homemaker- the dinner, the cleanliness, the happy child, the content husband- at least all the time at the same time.
- The idea that my kid cries because she is mad at me.
- The idea that my kid cries because I work (she is very good at daycare/with family members I'm told).
- The idea that if I was a GOOD mother (which has been described in completely different ways) my kid wouldn't cry ever.
- Basically ALL THE SHIT people tell me regarding how to interact with my child because...my kid is not perfect and neither am I but we need to work together- not with YOU possibly well-meaning but incredibly incredibly rude and disheartening person.
- The fact that sometimes people at work just...don't get me.
- The reality that while I love my friends, and I need them, they are imperfect.
- The idea that I should be okay, all the time. I feel like I am normally a pretty strong person. I've spent a LOT of my time being strong for other people. And...it sucks that they mainly aren't okay with me being weak right now.
- The idea that my feelings should be respected by my family. Is it the ideal? Yes. Is it my personal reality? Eh, I can do it but it only invites trouble and makes me feel way worse. So it would be more helpful to give it up.
What does self-care look like for you?
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