View from the Dragonfly’s Back
MomsGetReal Soulfeeder Chris Wilcox
Yesterday, I read a random post on Facebook from someone I’m connected to via a women’s group. We’ve never laughed together, clinked wine glasses in a toast or to my knowledge been in the same state, but what she said struck a nerve. And not in a good way.
It went something like “We all need days where we just give in and indulge. This afternoon, I put on my fuzzy bathrobe, sat down on the couch and watched a movie, and then I read a book. What do you do for self-care?”
My first thought was, “I read crap posts like that and go back to work.”
Not my best first thought of all time, admittedly. My mind’s eye imagined her beaming face in a big, purple bathrobe (why purple?), eating chocolates out of a huge box (and not gaining an ounce, by the way), laughing randomly with that I’m-tossing-my-Pantene-perfect-hair-back motion under a spotlight, and only rising from the couch to turn her rainbow on outside and go pet her unicorn.
And then I heard Mr. Wickham’s voice from Pride and Prejudice saying, “Jealousy. You like her life better, and you can’t stand that.”
I always have a tinge of jealousy when I read posts where people seem to have all the flexibility in the world to do whatever they want and live at the end of the Rainbow where unicorns frolic. During my career, my average week has been 50 hours (during some stretches closer to 70 hours) and my frolicking is limited, at best. So what’s a workaholic to do when self-care comes to the forefront?
Self-care is also wrapped in reality. When I ignore self-care, my benefits are weight gain and spontaneous fever blisters (2 in the last three weeks – front and center on my top lip), and now have the added feature of high blood pressure (did I mention that I also had my yearly doc visit?).
So self-care has to be a part of my reality. And fast. And like any workaholic, I want the plug-n-play version – 15 minutes to Zen and on my way, right?
I’m rolling my eyes as I type that because while I want that reality, I know it’s not that easy. My current self-care mode is (really unhealthy) comfort foods and sleeping – not exactly at the top of the list of healthy habits, and it’s results are creating a reality that I don’t want and cannot permit to continue. So I need to find a new mode.
I’m on the hunt for healthy comfort foods and a framework for reality that fits with my word nerd desire to work. I love yoga, and will have my yoga corner established in my soon-to-be-completed sanctuary space in my house in the next few weeks. Is that all I need? We’ll see.
What does your list look like?
Namaste.
