The Brochure on Squeezing Self-Care into the Schedule

I wish I had done it sooner. It was the ultimate in self-care. Surgery is self-care. It's a lot to wrap your head around because There's that initial period of recovery that sure doesn't feel like self-care.

Today I’m going to talk about self-care.  Is this something you’re good at?  For me it’s somewhat of a constant struggle I admit.  I feel like there’s always a distraction and I’m usually putting myself second.  I’m taking care of something for my husband, or something for my animals.  After all, I have a cat who’s diabetic and asthmatic and a really old horse.  Something for the house that needs to be done, or maybe simply something for my next episode.  But I need to stay on track and think about me too.  I need to prioritize myself sometimes.  Okay, not sometimes.  I need to prioritize myself.  Yes.  

What qualifies as self-care?  Self-care is the practice of taking care of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life to promote health and wellness. Many things qualify really.  Easy things like getting enough sleep.  We need to sleep every day, so I think that’s easy, but getting enough sleep?  Sometimes that’s harder.  Then there’s keeping up with your personal hygiene.  And washing your clothes and bedding?  That counts too I guess.  But then the extra things like giving yourself a facial mask or making sure you use that sunscreen every day.  Moisturizing!  That gets more and more important as you age, believe me!  Although my mother and even my dad didn’t really have wrinkles on their face.  Could I be lucky enough to inherit THAT trait?  I sure hope so.  And then building in enough relaxation time.  Good food?  Healthy food?  That counts too.  And it can be something as simple as drinking the suggested amount of water every day.  Staying hydrated is self-care too, right?  

The list really goes on and on.  I mean, there’s a lot of things that qualify as self-care!  There are always so many things to do!  How did I ever work full time AND commute AND get everything done that I needed to get done?  I was running myself ragged.  In a way I guess my lifestyle now IS self-care.  Resting, not getting stressed about a lot of the things I USED to get stressed about.  There’s a whole host of NEW things to get stressed about!  

Having a dog is a good thing and a bad thing, sometimes.  Dogs take time and care, but overall I think they are well worth it.  Sure they need to be fed and watered, exercised and looked after, but they provide emotional support and unconditional love, and well, endless amounts of cuteness.  With the recent rain we had here, part of this meant it was easier for me to take our dog for a walk than force her to go in the backyard to take care of her business.  Her forlorn looks of distress at being asked to put her little princess paws on the wet pavement of our back patio, let along the muddy garden areas was too much to handle.  I was almost wishing she would just go in the house.  Almost!  But put that leash on her and watch her happily trot through the water filled gutter, the neighbor’s wet grass on their lawns or romp through foot-high wet weeds near the curbs.  Go figure!  She was a happy camper.  And happy to hide her business in those high wet weeds.  Picture me bending over in the rain looking with my plastic bag in hand.  And hear me cursing through it all.  

After several days of rain, this sweet little impish doggie now expects a daily walk around the block, even though there’s a lot of sun and she could go laze in it in the backyard. Now I admit, at first the walk around the block was a bit challenging.  One half is slightly uphill and thankfully one half is slightly downhill.  But after a week of walking, we were breaking new ground and going further than just around the block.  This counts as self-care and something I’ve been meaning to do.  Walk more! It’s good exercise! I don’t mind taking the dog with me, it’s just problematic.  She has a tendency to fly around me on the leash like a helicopter.  I’ve tried to teach her to heel.  She’s too much of a free spirit to think about something like that.  She looks at me like I’m trying to break her little spirit.  I give in.  Or she decides that she wants to walk right in front of my feet.  Like RIGHT in front of my feet.  So I can’t look around at the trees and birds and such when I walk because I could end up drop kicking her like a football.  People would blame me for that.  

And I’m reminded that I had double knee surgery – double partial knee replacements – eleven months ago, and I have to say my knees are feeling pretty good.  Like factory new good.  I can walk probably as much as I want to, it’s just my back.  It gets tired and starts hurting.  Then I have to bend over and wait for it to snap.  Well, it makes a clicking sound.  I guess it kind of resets and then it feels better for a time.  The first time after my surgery I walked around the block I had to do this like maybe eight or ten times?  I was quite a sight! Now I can get around without doing it all, or maybe just once or twice, depending on what else I’ve done that day. How much I’ve stood.  

I’ve been to spine doctor and I’ve seen how my back looks on x-rays and it’s not so good.  They want me to get an MRI and I tried, but I’m too claustrophobic to put my head in that little space, even with an open MRI machine.  We’re working on that.  We have a plan, sort of.  And I also have an order for physical therapy on my back but I haven’t started that yet either.  

I have to admit that right after my knee surgery I could barely stand for more than a few minutes.  When I finally could walk out to the kitchen, which took about a week I guess, I’d have to lean on the counter because my back was screaming at me.  But now with time and building my strength, I can do a lot more.  My back is better.  But it’s not great.  It’s not perfect.  Maybe I should just have surgery.  I mean, not that they’ve talked to me about that.  But maybe that’s what I need.  I look back at my knee journey if you will and I really tried everything.  Exercises, acupuncture, which did help a LOT, pain creams, medication, etc., but there’s nothing that was going to really help my knees except surgery.  I wish I had done it sooner!  It was the ultimate in self-care!  Surgery as self-care.  It’s a lot to wrap your head around because there’s that initial period of recovery that sure doesn’t feel like self-care.  

And I’m reminded that Valentine’s Day is this week.  Valentine’s Day is kind of the ultimate self-care or family care kind of day.  Family care?  Friend care?  Significant other care?  This should be a day when you celebrate love.  Love for others in your life, but hey, also love of yourself.  Why not?  I know that my single friends sort of dread Valentine’s Day and I get it. I was single for a long time too.  There’s a lot of emphasis on couples and love and happiness and all.  That puts a lot of pressure on single folks.  My own parents I was surprised to find out, had picked February 9th as their wedding day because it was the closest day to Valentine’s Day that they could get married.  My parents were sentimental?  Stranger things have happened.  This would have been their 67th anniversary this year.  

So my message to you is think remember self-care.  Think about it.  Keep it in mind, because taking care of yourself is something that should be near the top of your to-do list every day.  Keeping yourself healthy is prominent to living your best life.  Eating good food, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep and exercise.  Fresh air, sunshine when we have it.  I sound like a commercial, don’t I?  Well, I guess I am a little.  But I know if I need a reminder, others probably do too.  

Now I should go drink some water.  That’s all I’ve got for today.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Next time, we’ll tackle another topic together.  I hope you’ll join me.