Self Care and Being Your Best Self

How do you reward yourself or fill your own tank?  Are you willing to?  Often we will do almost anything for a friend, but refuse to take the time or spend money on ourselves ?

This year my teaching job seemed very challenging and draining. Two of my grown kids currently live with me. I work long days and often work at least three hours over my mandated time.  Somehow I can't seem to change that, but I decided I was due for a big trip or reward for surviving this year.  I needed something to hold on to, to pull me forward through the rest of the school year.

It started out as trip with a travel buddy of mine.  We were going to do a cruise with great discounts.  Then I ran across a destination trip with others who eat like I do (plant based-oil free) in Costa Rica AND it would take place JUST after school let out!  My buddy was unavailable for that trip, BUT I knew that this was on my bucket list: to be able to (read: have the confidence to) travel internationally ALONE.  All I had to do was change planes in a large unfamiliar airport (Miami) and muddle through the customs process. The rest was gravy!  The group would pick me up at the airport, transport me to the all inclusive resort that we'd all be staying at.  Hanging out with like minded people on a structured group vacation seemed relatively easy.

So I said why not?!  Time to push myself a bit and grow. What a blast!  I was paired up with a woman from India as a roommate. There was no coincidence!  We had so much in common and lots to talk about. It was almost as if we'd known each other for years.

Our days were filled with river rafting, bird watching, horseback riding, mud baths, hot springs, snorkeling, and zip-lining.  We saw howler monkeys, iguanas and tons of other native flora and fauna.  Our evenings consisted of nutrition talks by Dr. John McDougall and every meal was a rainbow buffet of fresh local fruits, vegetables, and starches.

Have you been neglecting yourself lately? Feeling that you shouldn't reward or spend money on yourself?  What could you do to fill your own tank?  What do you like to do?

• get a pedicure or massage
• go wine tasting
• be in nature
• travel

How could you make that happen?  If you feel money stands in your way could you:

• swap with a friend giving each other a pedicure or massage
• find a local festival with free/lower priced food & drink vs. admission to a winery
• take a walk in a park or at the beach regularly
• take a weekend or day trip

You are worth it!  Being your best self requires having the energy to do it.  I challenge you to find one way to fill your own tank.  How will you find the motivation to follow through on your commitment?

I have decided to tweak my eating plan just a bit more, find ways to get regular exercise (even 15 minutes a day), AND, here's the big one - get more sleep! I know I feel better getting at least seven hours of sleep versus five or six. 

I'm going to list how I feel after waking up  when I stayed up way too late having mindlessly frittered away my time on social media then dragging in the morning and not getting up and out to accomplish my plans and being disappointed in myself.  Along side of that I will list how I feel after getting adequate sleep, body-wise, and how it feels to be able to accomplish my goals for the day more easily. 

Let's do this together and take great care of ourselves. I'm worth it and SO are you!  I'd love to read your comments below about what your goals are and how you're doing. 

 Let's get this Self Care bus rolling!



Conquering Your Fears Through Action

"I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experiences behind him.- Eleanor Roosevelt

Life brings with it many doubts and fears. But the unknown and the untried have held more people back than any lack of ability. Most successes are never seen because they're never attempted. The courage to face your fears can build momentum that creates magic. Each time you overcome an obstacle, a fear or a step back, you gain confidence. Every small victory helps you feel more certain of yourself and your direction, pushing you further and faster than you ever thought possible. You can do it! What's holding you back? True, fears are intimidating. So start small. Believe in yourself and take one small swipe at your fear today just to see what happens. If you can't talk yourself past the "point of no return," get a friend to help. In the end, half of the doing is in the deciding. If you stumble, don't be afraid to brush yourself off and jump back in. " Sparkpeople.com Healthy Reflections

This brings back memories of my first life coach's advice. I'd get so paralyzed by decisions. He'd tell me to take action--even if I wasn't sure it was the "right" action. The only way you'll know is to just do something-anything is better than nothing. If you find out it's not what you really want, well then, you are one step closer to knowing what you do.

How often do we stay in our heads about a decision or something we want to move towards? We think it over and over, imagining all the scenarios of how it could go? Maybe we get as far as mapping it out on paper, but still can't decide which way to the "right" way to do it or even to begin.

Start by taking the struggle out of the equation. List all the ways to go about it. Just write for 10-15 min. No judgment. Put some steps in order according to how they make you feel - easiest to hardest. Include doing nothing, doing more research, or asking others for advice/help.

I'll use my own example of having to make decisions while remodeling my house. I am currently finishing up the living room and dining room. I want to remodel the bathrooms and kitchen next, but feel over whelmed by all the decisions I have to make including: buy everything at once to save money or not, where to store it if I do, colors of paint/flooring/cupboards/fixtures etc...

I just want to run screaming from the home improvement process!

My choices:

Ground Zero: Do nothing and think about it some more.

Choice one: Map it out on paper-one tiny part at a time and work out from there. What color paint do I want to use in one bathroom? Buy that and start (easy enough to change).

Choice two: Map out the bare bones of overall project on paper from the big picture down. Leave some details blank for now. Ask a friend who has done this before to help me think it through.

Choice three: Decide on a few small things to buy first, then buy the most expensive items later and save some money.

Choice four: Decide whether to buy it all at once and save the most money (which involves making lots of decisions first, buying it & storing it in my garage, & leaving my car outside for the winter).

Ack! Choice four seems WAY too overwhelming. Choices two & three speak to me and say "That feels do-able."

• I will start with the overall look/feel I want to affect with the remodeling.
• Ask my friend to help me sketch out various parts of the project & leave out details I'm not sure about at this time.
• Move on to choice three by the end of the week.

I'll revisit my plan weekly. Now that feels do-able.

Can this process help you? Comment about conquering your own fears or indecision.

Let's encourage each other along to move through them into action.