I can’t possibly take another week off (I thought).
It was the Monday after Thanksgiving.
I had the flu.
And I’d already taken the previous 2 weeks off - the prior week (for Thanksgiving) and the week before that unexpectedly (courtesy of a flu-like, non-flu illness).
[Mid-November through mid-December was brutal in the Moulder household.]
I needed to reschedule at least 8 appointments (some for the second time in a matter of weeks), and tried to convince myself I could push forward.
After obsessing over it for an hour, I finally relented.
And spent the next 6 days in bed, binging on Christmas movies while snuggling with my cat Boots.
As a society, we talk about self-care a lot these days. To the point where we have a checklist of things-to-do in order to take proper care of ourselves.
Exercise daily... Check.
Eat 3 healthy meals per day... Check.
Get 7+ hours of sleep... Check.
Meditate... Check.
Practice some gratitude...Check.
And so on.
Are these all good things?
Yes.
But there are some problems with the self-care checklist:
It starts to feel tedious.
You forget to be creative.
You (falsely) believe you've done it all once you've checked everything off your list.
And sometimes self-care is letting go of doing these things. Because sometimes you just can't (like when you have the flu).
Self-care is whatever you need - in any given moment - to BE well mentally, physically and spiritually. What you need changes daily (sometimes hourly).
And there's no reason to feel guilty for prioritizing your wellbeing, Friend.
This was a lesson I thought I knew (but obviously needed to be reminded of).
Want to know what else I learned last year, including how “do it anyway” became my mantra? Listen to this week’s podcast episode >>>here.
XO,
Heather
