WHY SELF CARE NEEDS TO NOT JUST BE LIP SERVICE.....
Dear lovely readers
Welcome to the latest edition of the 45 Not Out newsletter. And an especial welcome to any the new lot of subscribers I’ve had. It means a lot that you put enough trust in me to sign up to the newsletter and I hope my random ramblings resonate with you!
I also hope that this edition of the newsletter finds you all well and for those readers in the UK - who knew that this stretch of sunny, almost summer-like weather would last this long!? But, playing to type, I think the weather is due break at the end of this week, just in time for the Bank Holiday!
So, with a Bank Holiday on the horizon, I wonder how many of you will try and steal some time for yourself. I’m talking about SELF CARE.
Now, I’m writing about this today, because that’s exactly what I had to do yesterday and I felt SOOOO guilty about not firing up the computer to do the tasks I’d set myself that day.
At the end of last week, I’d come down with a bacterial infection, and despite having anti-biotics, hadn’t quite gone.
I’d struggled through Monday and worked, but by Monday night, it was clear I needed to rest more and to give myself some self care - which meant taking a day off.
So, I very, very guiltily got myself up on Tuesday, got dressed and breakfasted and then, rather than starting work, I went downstairs, worked out how to fix the TV to the DVD player, lay on the sofa and watched a couple of very soppy, but very enjoyable DVD’s. I think I even may have dropped off for a short period at one point.
But the point is, I relaxed and rested for the whole day. And yes, the guilt kicked in big time, but I tried to loose myself in the trashy films and not think about it.
And, the pay off of doing all of that yesterday, was that I woke up feeling much, much better and lighter today, and have had more energy than I’ve had for several days.
So, there’s a bit of an empirical theory for you, based on my experiences. But what does science say about giving yourself some self-care?