Self Care: Your Health and the Holiday Season

Self care is defined as taking a personal day or a personal time out to recharge your batteries, rest your brain, and just be a bit lazy. It is a separate activity from going to the gym; which can put you in competitive mode and makes your brain think. Self care is often underrated and scorned. People try to shame you when you take time for you. However, you must take time for self care in order to perform your best and let your immune system recharge too.

 

Growing up my mother didn’t allow us to do very much on Sunday. It was reserved as a day of getting up early for morning mass, visiting grandparents then coming home and curling up in front of the television. Depending upon the weather it would determine what choice of channels we had. Yes, this was before cable television. PBS offered the old black and white movie classics and if the weather was near perfect we could tune in and enjoy a classic movie or an old Hop Along Cassidy episode. This was our unannounced family time. Yes, it seemed boring at times, but we sat and thumbed through catalogs and magazines, catnapped, and have conversations. We rested our bodies and brains; our immune system thanked us.

 

Sundays also did not allow for homework or hanging out with friends. My mother truly called it a “day of rest”. The only chore we may have been found performing was hauling in wood for the wood burning stove. We usually had yummy snacks while lounging around on a lazy Sunday afternoon. If the weather was perfect in the summer we may be found outside riding horses with those pink Hostess snowballs smuggled in the saddle bags. Those are favorite childhood treat. They bring back fond memories.

 

Early in my young adult life when I found I was suddenly a busy mom and United States Marine I took the advice of Mary Kay Ash and got up an hour earlier each day. This was my private time to enjoy reading, writing a letter, or just enjoying the quiet morning before everyone got up and the rush of the day started.

 

Years later when I found myself a single parent my quiet time was at 9pm each evening. After the children were asleep and it was 9pm it didn’t matter if the floor needed a good sweeping or a load of laundry needed folding it was now my time and those things would wait until the next day. My ritual was at 9pm to free myself and my brain of the chaos of the day. After performing my nighttime rituals I would crawl into bed with a good mindless romance novel and escape for a few hours. This private time allowed me to stay sane.

 

Today everyone from children to older adults is rushing around multi tasking at record speeds. People all of a sudden think there is something wrong with just staying home and curling up on the sofa with a good book or watching television. I always wondered why people subscribe to huge cable packages then are never home to watch television.

 

Now is the time to reclaim your quiet time. It is time to devote a regular time to you and your self care. You will find that you get more accomplished after having a day or few hours of scheduled rest. I remember reading an article from the 1940s or 1950s that told women to take a nap each afternoon and put on fresh makeup before the husband came home so that she was refreshed and able to tend to the husband; that seemed silly advice at the time I read it. But now as I work from home and often begin my day at 4am I love being able to take an afternoon power nap. It recharges my brain and I am more productive in the afternoon. You cannot sit at your desk and work for 10-12 hours without a break and be totally 100% productive. You need to rest your brain.

 

When my son was little we use to spend the week deciding what snacks we would make to eat while watching Sunday football games. I would usually end up falling asleep and he would wake me up to tell me the score. This became our family tradition and is what memories are made of. Get creative and solicit family members on creating a day of self care for the entire family.

 

At this moment the holidays are upon us and people are rushing to shop and attend various events it is the time to find your time for peace. Announce to everyone that with the economy in crisis mode it is time to stop spending recklessly and it is time to start enjoying the things you have in your home such as the television, books, board games, and each other. Spending an afternoon baking cookies or bread as Christmas gifts can be relaxing and save money too. Watching one of the many televisions you have in your home is a free activity that can replace spending big bucks at the movie theatre.

 

Now is the time to focus on you and your family and their health. Making and taking time for self care will ensure you have a rested mind, recharged immune system, and more money in your wallet.

 

 

Get a Dog and Increase Your Productivity

Let me start by saying I have not always been a dog person. I love cats. Mr. Skittles is an 18 pound old cat that I rescued in 2002. He loves to sit on the edge of my desk or on the keyboard and supervise me as I work. He doesn’t need to go for a walk and rarely begs me for anything other than to refill his food dish. He is content to just lounge and sleep. The most nuisances he causes is making me vacuum the furniture to get rid of his cat hair. Mr. Skittles is content to let me work nonstop 10-12 hours a day at my desk as long as I don’t type too loudly.

 

Now, Miss Savanna joined our household this fall. She is a young Pit Bull who loves to be the center of attention. She begs to go outside at least once an hour. Just when I sit down to work she comes in with a toy and wants me to stop what I’m doing and play fetch or chase her throughout the house and play hide and go seek.

 

I have finally found the secret to getting work done now that there is a dog in the house. You have to take her for a walk so she is tired and sleeps all morning. Savanna and I get up an hour earlier than I use to; our day starts around 4 am. Oh, I hear you groaning now. Well, we get up and I have coffee and check emails, plan my day, and typically get one or two small tasks accomplished before it is 6 am and the sun is out. Savanna knows when it is light enough to go for a walk and she starts begging if I’m not moving to get dressed. I admit walking Savanna has replaced my morning run. But she is slowly working up her endurance and soon we will be running instead of walking.

 

The weather is getting very nipping this time of year.  The fresh morning air is great to get the brain working. I usually solve all the world’s problems and invent challenge questions for my clients while Savanna and I are out for our morning walk. We typically are gone about 40 minutes and I admit I do not like cold weather and if it were not for Savanna I would not be outside in the fresh brisk air.

 

While on our morning walk we see all the cars with people rushing to work and the children getting on school buses. I am always reminded why I love working from home. I have the freedom to plan my day as I please. I do not miss being part of the early morning rush to work crowd. I love being my own boss.

 

When I return from our morning walk I typically am full of ideas and I see problems more clearly. I work in my office very diligently and efficiently in the morning. At lunch time Savanna and I may take a break and go for a very short walk. Again, it clears the brain fog and I’m refreshed.

 

Afternoons will typically find me and Savanna watching an episode or two of the Dog Whisperer and napping. Then we go for a late afternoon walk. Again the brain fog is lifted and I find I am ready to easily work at my desk for another 4-6 hours.

 

Becoming a dog owner has increased my productivity by providing me with mental clarity. I also have reduced stress and strain caused by sitting at a desk too long. Again, the daily walks with Savanna remind me why I love being an entrepreneur; I can set my own schedule.

 

If you don’t own a dog that needs walked I still highly recommend forcing yourself away from your desk and going for a walk a couple times a day. Exercise will clear the brain fog and leave you focused and inspired which will result in you being more productive. You will get more work done in less time.

 

So, when you find yourself looking at your computer screen and not having a thought in your brain on what to type. Hit SAVE, grab your dog or stop by my house and get Savanna and go clear away the brain fog! You will find you are more productivity and inspired when you return to your desk.