Resistance is futile.
I’m not
very good at practicing self-care. There is always too much to do. There’s all
that lovely housework that never seems to end, my children with packed lunches
and homework, my 3 jobs, shopping in the midst of all these lockdown measures. With
all this going on I haven’t managed to pick up a book for months. How on earth
would I be able to practice any form of self-care? I’ve tried leaving the housework.
But the mountains of laundry took longer to catch up on than they would have done
if I had just done it to begin with. How could I squeeze in a luxurious long
hot bath? The second I close my bathroom door, my 2 dogs scratch and paw at the
door begging to be let in. And that
would be the very moment that my children would start a lovely row with each
other. It would be the furthest thing away from relaxing.
But what
actually is self-care? It is any activity that you could do in order to take
care of our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. It helps to improve our
moods and reduced anxiety. Finding time for self-care can be hard, but if we
don’t find or make the time, it wouldn’t be long before we’re burnt out. Living
with permanent exhaustion, in a brain fog, where focusing and trying to take
care of anything or anyone will be impossible.
So, what
can we realistically do in the middle of our busy lives? Sleep. That is the
most important thing. I rarely get enough sleep, and it’s my favourite thing to
do. But because I am always so busy, I tend to stay up late scrolling through
my online social media, watching video after video of puppies and kittens. Only
to wake up the next day feeling very overwhelmed and totally unrested. It doesn’t
help that I suffer from nightmares. I have one almost every night. Normally I’m
being chased by zombies or I’m standing on stage, naked, and I don’t know my
lines. But sleep is one of the most important things you can do.
And then
there’s having a healthy diet. Now I for one have an incredibly unhealthy diet.
I leave my house in the morning, missing breakfast all together. I don’t feel
hungry until it’s far too late and I’m starving, so grab the first thing I can
find, which is usually a high sugar, low nutritious snack. Stuffing my face on rubbish,
I’m then not hungry for dinner so fail to eat and then spend the evening hungry
but too tired to eat. We should also take lunch breaks. Actually stopping and
enjoy our food. Not just rushing it to get it done. And therefore, allowing our
bodies time to digest it. We could also go for a walk after the lunch break. Stretching
our legs, helping to lift the brain fog of our busy day. Just think of all the new
and wonderful things you could see on your walk. I love walking my dogs. There
is so much joy in watching them run in the park. Walking is so beneficial for our
wellbeing. It’s a useful exercise that can add years to our lives as well as helping us to maintain our weight.
Reaching
out to friends and family can also help with our mental health. But what if it doesn’t?
What if instead of bringing happiness, they only bring stress and heart ache? Then
it’s time to make some hard but really important decisions. I have learnt that
I need to put boundaries around my life. That I don’t need to hold on to people that
hurt and use me. That although I may lose people along the way, I would be holding
on to myself.
So,
making my bedtime a priority and putting down my phone must happen. I need to
prepare good healthy food in advance, and not snack on rubbish. Limit the amount
of coffee I drink, (that’s going to be a hard one for me.) Walking, reading and
laughing with good friends that value me will help my mental health. That is
the key to a good relationship with myself and with others. So resistance is futile, it’s time to take care of ourselves now.
Comments
Post a Comment