So you are probably asking yourself one of two questions right now . . . What exactly is self-care?  OR  Who has time for self-care?  I’ve had to work through both of these answers as I’ve gone through the life plan writing process and what I’ve come to find is that this, along with my faith/spiritual growth, these are the two areas that fuel and drive all of my other areas.   When I’m not pursuing the Lord through prayer and reading His word daily and when I’m not taking time to refuel myself, I have very little to give others.

Self-care is purposefully taking time to improve you and your physical, mental, and emotional health.  It’s doing something or could be taking time to do nothing, to refuel and restore your joy.  Self-care can come in many forms.  There’s no one size fits all.  The key is to find something that gives you a feeling of joy, fulfillment, and renewal.

This is one area of my life that I was neglecting as I first began the process of life plan writing.  Probably because I didn’t value it and didn’t fully realize how taking care of me helped to propel my other life accounts forward.  I started adding self-care into my daily schedule by planning about 30 minutes a day (sometimes broken into smaller chunks of time) to be alone and do something that relaxes and rejuvenates me.  Some days that means just sitting in the backyard for 10 minutes, without my phone, to think and pray.  Some days that means picking up a book to read. Other days it means turning on a favorite show, kicking up my feet, sipping hot cinnamon tea and taking time for me despite the disastrous state of our home.  I don’t think the difference for me came in taking the time, but in the shift of my attitude.  I have started to release the feelings of guilt for not being up and “doing”.  There will always be dishes that need to be done, laundry that needs to be folded, toys that need to be picked up and blog posts that need to be written, but I’m started to really enjoy taking time for me and not feeling guilty.  

After a short time of relaxing, I’m able to jump up and get after my daily to-do’s with much more efficiency and I’m much less likely to jump to frustration with my husband or kids.  It’s amazing what a little self-care can do!  Try it!

 
I’d love to connect with you.  Share how you are doing with self-care or what you will do to incorporate it TODAY in the comments below.