I am writing my Thesis. Right now. Well. Not this second, but I was a few seconds ago, and I will be again in a few more seconds. But I’m taking this moment, to use words to help me remember to breathe and rest and not waste these last few days before I’ll hit send and wrap up my stint as a Masters student.
Speaking of self-care (which we sort of were), i’m about to go ride a horse.
I started riding again last summer and it was one of the best decisions I made in 2016. Here are a few reasons I love it (and here are a few things I encourage you to look for in a self-care activity):
It wasn’t for anyone else.
Killing lots of birds with one post here.
I woke up this morning feeling pretty much the same way I went to bed feeling last night: anxious and stressed and a little panicky and a little angry. Why you may ask? No real idea, except that I have that feeling I hate: when all the parts and people of life are tugging on your sleeve and asking you to pay attention to them and you just want everyone and everything to take a few giant steps back and give you room to breathe.
Just this, fabs.
This is all you have to do right now. Be. And sit. And rest. And wait.
You don’t have to do tomorrow yet. Just slow down and stop scrambling to get ahead of whatever might be around the corner. There are hard things there for sure. Tomorrow holds challenges and obstacles, but today has obstacles enough of its own: starting with the challenge to be in today and not tomorrow.
You don’t have to do yesterday, with all its bumps and bruises and pain and failure and frustrations – that is not what you have to do today. You just have to do this moment. Maybe how you feel about yesterday is a part of this moment, but yesterday itself is gone.
I like the Snickers commercials. The premise is that you’re not yourself when you’re hungry. You behave like a totally different person and you have no idea why. Then you get food and realize: oh! I was just hungry!
When I was a kid I remember every time I would get upset about something my family would exchange glances and ask one another when was the last time I ate. I have learned to spot my signs of hunger. Irritability, mental confusion, shakiness are all symptoms that prompt me to check my stomach and consider whether or not I might need food.