Self Care, do you do it?

Self-care is something that I never really paid much attention to up until the last 10 years. I don’t recall the term self-care ever really being a part of my life growing up, perhaps it was but it didn’t really stick with me if it was. Everybody always seems so busy and their life the day-to-day stuff speeding from minute to minute always-on-the-go, always having something to do and as you’re doing it chances are your mind is already thinking about the next 10 things that you also want to get done today, or what you didn’t finish yesterday or the fact that you have 10 things that need to be done and you’re only one person but somehow by the end of the day you have got to get all of those 10 things done. The words need, want and must are really misused by all of us. It’s far too easy for us all to set unrealistic overblown expectations for ourselves each day. This becomes dangerous over time. Our mind gets overwhelmed, our bodies get tired. We don’t take the time to eat properly we don’t exercise we don’t take the time to just sit and be still with our thoughts. In the past month or so I’ve really taken to yoga just at home I’m not you know I’m not a fantastic yogi, I don’t do all the crazy old moves but what I did commit myself to was every morning waking up and starting the day with some yoga. This gives me some time for just me and my thoughts and a great Youtube yoga instructor.

Now I know what you’re thinking, yoga isn’t your thing, that’s totally okay, I’m not here to tell you what you need to do. However, it is amazing how beneficial just spending a few moments a day on yourself really are. It gives you that chance to recharge it gives you that chance to just stop your mind for a few minutes and just have some peace and solitude and to not worry about those to-do lists. We all have our own lists, they’re all different but they all affect our Mental Health in the same way. Self-care can be as simple as having a cup of coffee and just sitting down and you know people watching going to the park going to the library may be in spending you know 10 minutes looking for a new book or even just reading the newspaper in the library taking a stroll It is far too easy for us all to put unrealistic overblown expectations for ourselves each day. This can become dangerous over time our mind gets tired our bodies get tired, we don’t take the time to eat properly, we don’t exercise as we should, we don’t take the time to just sit and be still with our thoughts.

It’s amazing how beneficial just spending a few moments at the start of each day to simply focus on yourself can be. It gives you that chance to recharge, to just stop your mind for a few minutes and have some peace and solitude. To not worry about your to-do list or the to-do list you didn’t get done yesterday. The fact is that you know you have deadlines that you need to be met. It may be kids that need things from you or you have a spouse or really anything that may be on your list. You have to take a moment and really decide what tasks must be a priority. We all have to decide and prioritize and put yourself first. Our tasks are our own, they’re all different from everyone else, but they all affect our mental health in the same way. Self-care can be as simple as having a cup of coffee and just sitting down, maybe you people watch at the park for a few minutes, maybe for you it’s going to the library, or maybe painting a short 10 minutes looking for a new book or even just reading the newspaper, taking a stroll, having a bath, even just sitting quietly and your car for a few minutes before you rushing to that meeting or before your kids come from school or you going to your appointment or whatever it is you’re doing, just take a moment and just close your eyes and say, okay this moment right now is for me, right now I am taking a moment to just be still, to just be quiet and let my mind rest for a moment.
I do understand that it’s probably a lot easier said than done. A lot of people have crazy hectic days that are busy enough, and you may think, how in the heck are you going to find time to just take a moment for yourself. How dare you do that when you have all these other people depending on you.
You do it because Self Care is what will keep you going.
Sometimes we feel like it’s self-centered, selfish behavior to take that few minutes of time and just be with ourselves and just take a moment to catch our breath. I mean really catch your breath and just put the tasks of the day aside for a moment, breathe in the air and just feel.
We all rushed through the day going from task to task and not really aware of our surroundings, not really aware of our own bodies, maybe you might be so busy and you wake up and you rush to start your day, you carry on your way and before you know it, you realize its lunch time or mid-afternoon you haven’t even eaten yet. It’s important that we eat it’s important that we drink water, it’s important that we nourish our bodies and give our bodies what they need so that we can work to the extent that we push our bodies. It seems like such a silly thing but it’s amazing how much better your body is can perform if you give it the energy and the care it really does need.

Self-care really should be looked at the same as we care for our vehicles and we care for our pets are we care for our kids. We take our vehicle in for maintenance we take it in for checkups, well, it’s important to do the same for yourself. Now I don’t just mean doctor visits, I mean really taking a few moments each day and check up on yourself. See what’s not feeling right, what doesn’t seem to be working right in your body. What do you need to fix that? What are you lacking in your day-to-day routine? Maybe all you’re lacking is just a couple of minutes for yourself, to say ‘hey, it’s okay if I just sit here for a moment and just be.’ Just pause for a moment. It’s so important to understand that it is okay in our day to put ourselves first from time to time because if we don’t, it makes it very very difficult for us to be there to meet all those needs that we have in our life.

This is a really difficult concept for some people to understand. For some people to even begin to think about it can scare people. To just think about sitting and being with your thoughts, I think a lot of times our minds purposely keep ourselves busy to the point of exhaustion, simply to keep some dark thoughts, bad memories or some situations that we just don’t want to creep out to the forefront of our mind. We worry that if we do stop for a moment and just let our mind settle that maybe those thoughts might, you know creep out, and that’s scary for some people.
I respect that, and I can appreciate that it is a difficult thing to try and balance. How do you take that moment to just sit and be okay and not let those bad thoughts take over your mind, not let them take control? For each person it is different, maybe it’s something that you just need to start off with just a minute or two each day or find a book or find some quiet music or a song that you really enjoy. Maybe for you, it won’t actually be a quiet time, maybe it’s just doing something that really brings peace and joy to your heart. Take a moment and do that, crank that song on that makes you smile, throw on that video that makes you laugh, read a letter, read a blog! read that book, even just one page. Just choose to do something for a moment or 2 that makes you feel at peace, that makes you have a happy thought for even just a moment. Whatever you try, be proud that you took that time for you. In closing, remember this phrase and say it to yourself when you need a reminder. PAUSE…..count 2…. 3… Now Continue.

Until next time my friends, be gentle to yourself and look out for one another.