Self Care is Required Me Care

The day is crazy. The first part of the morning starts out with a group of friends that get together online each morning. This is a friendly half hour or so chat with one or more on Facebook Live and the rest are chatting in the comments. Everyone is encouraged to come in as they are and stay as long as they can. This is a private group, so it’s comfortable for everyone to share without restraint.

Next up is a Zoom chat with a client. These chats are to check up on and see how things are going. Do exercises need to be changed up? Is there some other way that may help them? Do they need encouragement? Do they need more details or instructions? Sometimes a shared screen is done, so it has to be done at the home computer setup.

After this is a walk with a friend, which is generally about 5 miles or so. We chat about all kinds of topics: family, friends, business, current events and whatever else comes to mind. The one part that we always enjoy is when we come across wildlife. Trails that we take are in areas where we will see chipmunks, squirrels, birds, deer, turtles, sandhill cranes, blue herons, etc. This year we have taken more nature trail routes, the reason for this is there are no bicycles on those routes. We have also found fewer dogs, one set of nature trails has signs that say no dogs allowed. Walking like this is a great way to get exercise and relax.

My favorite way to relax after a 5 mile walk or just a long day is to get in the tub. Before starting the water I get together everything I need for relaxing - Epsom salts, essential oils, a beverage and my phone. I then start the water to get it hot, then plug the tub. After that I add Epsom salts that are mixed with essential oils, plus an essential oils mix called Breath Ease (a mix of Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Cypress, Lemon, and Elemi). Getting in the water while it is still very low and enjoying the water slowly getting deeper. We turned the overflow cover upside down, this allows for more water in the tub and still keeps it from overflowing.

The one thing that I have to make sure of is that I don’t go on controversial Facebook pages or groups, it’s not relaxing. This is where I will put on a movie. What movie? I am a Hallmark Addict, so it’ll be one of those. I do watch Christmas movies all year, so there’s a great chance it’ll be a Christmas movie. However, I do enjoy watching them all. This will mean that I am in the tub for a couple hours. In that amount of time the water will cool off, so I will drain part of it and add in some hot water.

Another thing that I do to relax is at night, turn down the lights, put on music and lay backwards on a stability ball that is inflated to the maximum capacity. The music I put on is something that is slow, sometimes where you hear water falling, maybe rain along with some piano in the background.

I am big on taking time out for myself with some great self care. Once a month I have a pre-scheduled massage. It is a full body and deep-tissue. She uses hot rocks on my back and calves. The last thing she does is put hot clothes on and massages my feet. I love it and hate it all at the same time. I love it because it feels great and I hate it because I know that the massage is almost done.

This past Christmas I gave my father a pen & ink drawing of the house that he was born in. I found drawing it very relaxing. Back when I was in college my favorite class was architectural illustration and this was one of the projects that was required.

Along with hand drawing, I enjoy graphic design where I make static and automated graphics. I remember many years ago that I would also do counted cross-stitch and bead ornaments. My brain is most at ease when it is creating something.