I'm incredibly embarrassed that I haven't posted anything since June. When I first told my boyfriend that I started a blog, he asked me how often I'll be updating it and if I'll be posting on a schedule. "Yeah! Definitely, I mean, I want to keep people engaged and I have a lot to say. I'll update every day!" That was my response back in April. It's now the middle of October and I haven't posted anything since June.
A little update on me:
I moved in August and a week later I was in NC at a conference for my business - side note, when you're in an arena with 30,000 entrepreneurs, you can't help but feel the energy around you and feel excited about what you're doing. A week after that, I left my full time position at the hospital to take a 2 week break before starting grad school. I started a full time masters program in Clinical Social Work at the beginning of September, and I just finished midterms.
Things have been completely crazy, but the purpose of this post isn't for me to rant about how crazy my life is, it's about how important self-care is when everything around you is pure chaos and you feel like having enough time to shave your legs is a luxury.
Now that my midterms papers and projects are submitted, I feel like I can slow down. Last Thursday was the first time I did any sort of yoga in more than a month, and I fell asleep in shivasana for a full 2 hours. Thankfully, I was practicing in the comfort of my own home and I didn't bother anyone else by sleeping on the floor for 2 hours while Florence and the Machine softly played in the background.
My last midterm was submitted yesterday, and for the first time since the end of August, I was able to read a book (not a textbook) before falling asleep. What a luxury. I imagine this is what I might feel like when I have children.
When I was applying to graduate school, one of my best friends (who is a third year doctoral student) told me to mention self-care in my application essay. Let me clarify that when I wasn't in grad school, self-care wasn't an issue for me - I exercised regularly, ate well, and got enough sleep. I couldn't understand not having enough time to do those things.
Now, being in grad school, I fully understand why self-care is so important. I'm slowly realizing that this idea of self-care doesn't need to be a huge event or even last that long, but it's something that needs to be scheduled in just like anything else. If dedicating an hour to a work out and a shower means that I'll be saving my mental sanity, then it's worth it. My self-care activities vary, but throughout the week, I'll try to incorporate one night of dancing, running a few times throughout the week (short runs, usually less than 30 minutes), yoga, setting some time to reflect on my day before I go to sleep, and writing out my goals first thing in the morning.
So, my encouragement to you (if anyone's reading this), is to find something that will fall under the category of self-care. It doesn't need to be any of the ones that I listed (I'm a very active person, and exercise gets me out of my head), but find something that provides an escape for you. If anyone is reading this, please feel free to share what you do for self-care and how it helps you.
Namaste, friends.
