Friday, February 17, 2012

Attending to Self Care


I know if you're like me, we probably don't take care of ourselves half as well as we should. Our "To Do" lists are simply endless and there are simply too many people that need us. If you're anything like me, you put yourself last. No meaning that you are last, but your needs will be addressed after everything else has been completed in the day.

About a two weeks ago, I updated my status on Facebook to reflect I simply wanted to quit. I had had one of those days where I had reached the end of my proverbial rope and realized there wasn't even a knot at the end and it was directly over a crocodile invested cliff. I am exaggerating of course, but even though I was trying to get everything accomplished from school work, yard work, blogs, emails, housework, dinner, errands...I had gotten sick on top of it all. The worst part was it seemed like no one noticed or simply cared. So I snapped, I simply walked up to my room and declared "I quit!" for the day and shut the door.

What happened that day opened my eyes and that of my families quite a bit. I realized that the insane pace I was trying to keep up wasn't reasonable for anyone, yet I was acting like I could do it all. I wasn't asking my family to help and assumed the duties as though everything was fine. Rather than ask for help, I kept it all inside, thinking I was going to be the Proverbs 31 woman all in one day.

Yeah, a bit out of the question.

What I have come to realize is that I needed to adjust my schedule and that of the family members and friends that frequent my home that it is not a self cleaning, self running home and everyone needs to do there part. I am not super woman nor does God expect me to be. I think God got a good laugh at thinking I could keep up with Him. NOT!

So ladies, please do me a favor and start budgeting some time in your schedule for you. Whether you need just an hour to spend some quiet time alone with God reading your Bible and enjoying your favorite beverage, or going and spending time with your close friends, do it! If not, you will come up short every single time. Even Jesus realized the need for some ALONE time, and was often seen just heading up a hill to spend some time in prayer with His Father.

Here are some other things to find time for in your life and begin to start making some adjustments soon!

1. Eating Right. (Eating on the run doesn't count!)
2. Exercise. (Running the vacuum and doing laundry doesn't count)
3. Rest (Waiting until your dead, may just shorten your life span!)
4. Spiritual Self Care (quiet time alone with God, spending time in Church because you want to be there not because you HAVE to be there).

I share more with you in another post on ways we can recharge our batteries!

6 comments:

Denise said...

Amen, well said.

Terra said...

Your crisis led you to make some needed changes that will bless you, and your family.
These tips are good and thanks for reminding us.

Jules w/ LovelyandCo said...

Great comments! I totally need to take time for myself :)

David C Brown said...

Your advice has been suitably passed on to the lady of the house!

Leslie said...

As a mom to two teenagers and an almost 3 month old...AMEN! I'm trying to spend more time with friends these days. (Went to breakfast with two just this morning.) While I was working and then going to school, friendships got put on the back burner. I'm exhausted due to the baby, but I'm finding more time for my friends!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Great post Kat and I am glad you have come to this realization.