Thus far 2018 has been a pretty stressful one for me and sadly it doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon. During times of stress I find that not only does my work and writing suffer, but so does my mental and physical health. I tend to not make enough time to take care of myself even though I need to more than ever.
So that is why I am making a commitment to myself to take some time for self care. I need to eat better and exercise, both of which I am working on. I am getting back into yoga. I’m going to get back into mediation. I need to socialize some more, which bi-weekly D&D games are helping with. I need to start sketching and painting for fun again. I need to read more. I know all that I need to do, now I just need to respect my health enough to do it consistently. Even just and hour or two for myself a day should make a huge difference. Now to see if I can actually stick to a self care plan. How much time do you dedicate to yourself each day? How do you keep life from stealing that time from you? Leave you tips in the comments.
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To continue the theme of this week's blog vibe, self care and all, today I am talking about celebrating your victories, even the small ones. This is something that I really need to learn. I mean I am a published author who just had a new release at the end of last month! That is something that I should be celebrating, but instead all I can do is think about what else I should have written. I worry that I am not marketing my book enough. I have some pretty good reviews, but all I can think about are the bad things that people say, not the good. It doesn't sound like I am celebrating that much does it? Nope, I don't know how to celebrate my accomplishments but I want to learn.
So how does one celebrate victories in their life? Even small ones? Or what about the big ones like having a book published? I don't know how to answer those questions yet, but I hope that I can learn. Maybe for big things I can get a tattoo? Maybe for completing and submitting a manuscript a nice dinner? I don't know but I think that I will be happier if I learn to cherish my accomplishments. How do you celebrate victories in your life? I'm still thinking about self care and taking better care of myself this week. In addition to mediation, I am trying to think of better ways to take the immense pressure that I put on myself off. One thing that I tend to do is set too large of expectations for myself. I don't just have a to-do list each day with a few things to do, I have a page long list for each and every day. Then of course I don't finish everything and I beat myself up about it. So then I add things to my next day's list and the same cycle repeats itself. See how the problem only compounds itself? Why I need to think of a new way of doing things?
So I am attempting to shorten my to-do lists. I am doing this by first having a list of things that I must get done, like eat and meditate, or work the day job. Sure, each day I will have some writing work on there, be it promotion or editing or writing, but I am going to try not to have all three on my plate each day. I am then going to have a second list, of things that I would like to get done in addition to my must do list. I am hoping that this somehow lightens the load that I put on myself. Will it work? I don't know, but i's worth a try right? Recently I have been really trying to dedicate myself to meditation each and every day. I know that I have mentioned that I am working on this before, but forming a new and healthy habit takes time and there are bound to be setbacks. I have had some ups and downs while trying to be healthier, but I notice that I feel so much better when I take some time for self-care and meditation.
So this month I am attempting to meditate at least ten minutes every day. Ten minutes isn't that much of a time commitment, but I think that it will go a long way to making my mind calmer and bettering my quality of life. It's such a small change but it's a step in the right direction. By clearing my mind I'm hoping that I can be more productive with the rest of my day, that I might even better my writing in the process. What small change can you make in your life that will help in your self-care? Don't we all owe it to ourselves to take time to take care of ourselves? As some of you probably already know, I have some ongoing health issues that have been pretty bad over the past few years. I am happy to say that I think that my health is finally settling down a bit and I am hoping that means I get more of my writing mojo back. However, I still need to take care of myself and be sure not to overdo it, something that I have struggled with my whole life. In fact, on my birthday I went to get a tarot card reading (because hey it was my 40th birthday!) and asked for reading on my health. Overall it was very positive, only small issues seem to be in my future this year, except I got a card saying that I needed to focus on resting and relaxing to keep my health in balance. The cards knew!
So how I am I going to learn to take better care of myself? Well changes are being made in the day job arena. Getting out of a bad for me situation will work wonders for my health. I am also taking time each day to read and rest, even if I am behind on writing. I am learning to say no. That is something else that I struggle with. I am mostly taking the weekends off from writing and exercising. Basically I am making myself a priority. I am also still trying to organize my writing more, making myself more productive and still having time for other things in my life. I love writing and I have tons to do this year, but I can't write if I let my health get the better of me. So last week I posted about trying to learn to take more time for myself and to stop working such crazy hours between the day job and writing. I am still working on some writing on the weekends, though I am taking a good amount of time off on the weekend as well. So that is progress. Now I am trying not to work so many hours during the week. Now the day job has a set amount of hours, but I am trying to limit myself to 5-6 hours at night. Basically I am trying to knock off work by 11 at night and do something just for myself while I wait for the hubby to come home. Lately I am trying to read, I am in the process of re-reading It by Stephen King, and playing video games. Let's see if I can stick to this more realistic schedule and see if it help both my physical and mental health. I have a theory that lessening my writing time might make me more productive over all, so I am keeping track of all my writing work this month to see how I do. All I know is that this past year I have been working myself into the ground and I need to learn some balance. Wish me luck!
So I have not been as consistent with my yoga and exercise programs of late. Stress and life have been getting in my way and my health and sanity are suffering for it. So it's great that this month Yoga with Adriene offered this handy schedule to help me "Begin Again" as it says. So I am committing to 31 days of yoga this month. Yes I know that this is my third challenge for the month (drawlloween and writing a page a day being the other two), but I think that I can do it. By making some manageable goals I think it will only help to improve my life and make me more productive. Please feel free to join this or any of the challenges with me!
I have a hard time taking time off, relaxing, and taking care of myself. This has been brought up to me by a couple different friends of late. Not only am I working five days a week at the day job, but I am also putting in about 60 hours in writing and art work. That means that it's all work and no play for Sheri. Sure every once in awhile I go to the movies with my husband, but I work before and after usually. And yeah I take some time to exercise and keep the house running, but I really don't take time for fun. This is something that I am going to work on for the rest of the year.
The problem is I don't really know what to do with myself when I'm not working. My husband and I work completely different schedules, so I am on my own a lot and without the car as he has it. That means I'm at home and working. I feel guilty when I don't work and I feel like I need to put in a full day of writing work even after working at the day job. This pace is starting to wear my already not so great health down. I need to take some breaks, but I truly don't know how. How can I just watch tv or play video games when I know there is writing I should do? I don't know. I am however going to start trying to take the weekend mostly off. I will be running errands, cleaning my house, spending time with my husband and family. Maybe we will see more movies, go hiking, go bowling, you know do stuff. Maybe that is what I need to focus on, doing stuff rather than writing and working all the time. After all, all work and no play makes Sheri a dull women and dull women have nothing to write about. Wish me luck on learning to relax from time to time and also share tips on how you relax and fit it into your busy schedule below. I believe there is always so much that we can learn from each other. |
AuthorAuthor, artist, jewelry maker and all around creative person. I write in many genres and have a lot of fun doing so. Please take a look around and enjoy! Archives
January 2022
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