Self-Care is a Process.

2021 - nothing that is currently happening is anything I would (or could) have ever expected. Now, more than ever, I encourage self-care. I truly understand and believe that self-care is hard to do. It requires a person to be open to routine, consistency, and self-love. All of those things are hard. As a mom, I find it even harder. Who has time to take a minute for themselves?

“Don’t I need to clean the house? Return that call to my friend? But my son is sick and needs me!”

All of those things are true.

I’d like to encourage a shift in our mindset - with both how we view self-care, and how we view expectations of ourselves. Self-care can be a variety of things, they don’t have to strictly include hobbies or baths.

How can we change the expectations of ourselves?

Let’s start with this:

I am worthy of self-care.

That’s it. Because you are. And I am, too.

I bought a planner for 2021 (*gasp* “Sara, but why would you be optimistic enough to assume you need a planner? It’s still a Pandemic!”) True. However, having a planner, for me, is a form of self-care. Hear me out - my planner prompts me to make 3 priorities for the week. I hadn’t hopped on the treadmill in, probably, a solid month AND this week I made a priority to hop on it twice. Twice…that’s it. It’s Thursday, and I completed a walk/run this morning. Boom, self-care. Boom, a mom completing self-care. Boom, a human, suffering from side effects from 2020, completing self-care. You can do it, too.

What else do I consider self-care? Yes, a bath - but also simply washing your face 2x a day, using skincare products, flossing your teeth, cleaning the countertops making your bed, drinking a cup of tea, coloring, going on a walk, finally putting away that laundry that is building up on top of your treadmill (what? not me).

Again, I am here to tell you, you can do it too.

Let’s take better care of ourselves.

We deserve it.

Reach out, we can start that process together.