A Time for self-care

WARNING: This post isn't really going to have anything do with writing or any of books. I'm going to talk about self-care. It seems to be a popular word lately - and rightly so. But I many of my friends and those I'm friends with on social media are doing less of it... I hear a lot - "I'm home all the time now..." AND let me tell you what - you need self-care!  I really don't want to discuss the lock-down and all the stuff that goes with that, I want to tell you that you NEED to take of you. 

Self-care may look different during this time but it still needs to be there. I worked from home before the lock-down but now Charlie is here with me ALLLLL the time. And you know what??? I have found that we spend less time actually together. I spend less time finding time for ME. 

I do still take to enjoy some of the beauty around me but even that took a dip...

Sure we are the same house 24/7 but we stopped playing cards or dino monopoly... you know because we were together. Just because you are breathing the same air doesn't mean that you are sharing that air. Charlie's behaviors really began to deteriorate (just what I needed when I have NO outlet!) After about 3 weeks of hell, I realized he was feeling rejected because we didn't do anything together. Soooo I worked on fixing that. We now have Sunday family journal time (I have a website with prompts and cute videos of Charlie doing some journal activities - Writing with Crayons ). And we play at least 2 games a week. 

Charlie making his gratitude journal...
because you know dinos are awesome

So I now had Charlie to the point that he wasn't kicking holes in my walls but I was a hot mess!!!! There was no library to go and hang out at. No coffee shop to veg at. Nothing! But I was home so I should be relax - right????? WRONG! I realized that just as Charlie need contact that was more than sitting in the same space. I needed self-care that was more than wearing yoga pants and an oversize shirt (Actually this has been my wardrobe for years - but just saying here).  It was hard! So hard! To find a way to make 'me' time when it seemed like all I had was 'me' time. 

And another thing we did was get a puppy
a 92 lb 6 month old puppy 

Some of the ways I've done this....

1. I listen to rain storms/fires/waves through my earbuds. It relaxes me far more listening to a book - because then I have to use my brain and also it's someone talking - Charlie talks NON-STOP.  It's a five minute escape. 

2. Homemade face/hair/hand mask. They are cheap and you can find recipes with the stuff you have in the house. Even Charlie has done some ;-)

3. I allow myself to have one night were I don't 'have' to do anything. I don't have to read, to do edits, to write, to do the dishes, to vacuum, it's one night of just being. You know what the world didn't hiccup, my house didn't collapse, and I'm fairly sure no one noticed. But the freedom of that 1 night as done more for me than I can say.

And the last thing but the most important....

4. Know it's okay to not be okay. To say I can't do this anymore and ask for help. Just because you are home all the time now doesn't mean you are relaxing all the time. 

So these are words on self-care... Not words to follow... Just words to hopefully help you start down a path (if you need to go - because I'm not always the first to start down a path) of self-care.

Take care of yourself! And see you next month!!!!