I’m a little bit county: An important lesson on self-care.

Confession Time:

This Yenta loves country music and my favourite show on tv right now is Nashville, a country musical drama on CMT. Judge away but honestly, it’s the perfect blend of ooey gooey drama and schmaltzy romance.

(“So angsty”, as Adam loves to say.)

Anyways, while playing with Ethan this morning, we were listening to the Nashville soundtrack and the song “A Life That’s Good”, by Lennon and Maisy Stella came on and I got into one of my self-reflective moods. 

“Sometimes I’m hard on me
When dreams don’t come easy
I wanna look back and say
I did all that I could…”

While listening to the Stella sisters croon, I reflected back on my ultimate poop tastic week and started to feel sorry for myself.  The reality is, this wasn’t the first poop tastic week (so fun to say…try it in a sentence) and won’t be the last, but honestly I felt like I was being tested in all areas of my life.  While I’ve been hard on myself for as long as I can remember, the one thing that always helps me is to engage in self care.

Self care, which comes in many different forms, is all about taking care of your emotional health. Certain self care activities can be as simple as going to the gym, having a nap, getting a pedicure, or ordering a fancy drink from Starbucks (venti quad, almond milk, one pump, no whip mocha, thanks).  It’s about taking time to participate in activities that nurture you.  Instead of waiting for $h!t to hit the fan, it is so important to incorporate daily self care habits to help deal with the demands of everyday life.  It’s amazing how life can creep up on you.  While I’m glad I took time today to sleep in and spend time with my family, I totally regret missing my Weight Watchers meeting and Zumba class.  Every Saturday, both of these activities have been self-care rituals that set my week off right, putting me in the right frame of mind.  As I stare at the empty pizza boxes – yes that’s boxes as in plural – I realized that I haven’t been scheduling enough self-care into my life.  One of the biggest challenges has been taking on too much and as a result I have been letting my fitness and meal planning habits slip through the cracks.  While I take full responsibility for my actions, it has been difficult trying to stay on track with our apartment in a state of disrepair. 

Well, it stops now.  No more all or nothing thinking.  I’m happy to report that our apartment is now back together and we have a functioning kitchen and eating area. My goal for tomorrow is to grocery shop, meal plan and then hit the gym for a good cardio session. But for now? I’m going to practice some self-compassion AND catch up on some Nashville (be sure to check it out on Thursdays at 9pm on CMT).

That’s all I have for now.  Try and consider some of the ways in which you engage in self care and be sure to share in the comments section.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xo

Jen