You may or may not have noticed I haven’t published a new blog post in the last two weeks. (If this is your first visit to my blog well then, Hello! I’m so glad you came!) I have taken the last two weeks to take care of myself as I recover from major surgery. (Major surgery, yes, and also good surgery. The kind that will improve my quality of life, so yay!)
While this surgery was planned, I truly believed I would be feeling well enough to write new blog posts during my recovery. You may have already realized this was not the case as my blog sat quiet and still for the past two weeks.
I have missed writing and yet I recognize my choice to take care of my health is one of the tenets of this blog. I live and write about living a happy, healthy, and awesome life! Well, I have learned life just isn’t awesome if I don’t start by taking care of myself.
Taking care of my health isn’t just about recovering from surgery. There are opportunities to practice self-care in each and every day. I do this in a lot of big and small ways- from getting a good night’s sleep, taking breaks, and eating well, to saying no when I need to say no. I’ve got lots of ideas for living a healthy life through self-care and 5 reasons to put yourself first.
When I’m at my best you can be sure I’m being diligent about self-care. Self-care allows me to accomplish so much more than I would otherwise and offers benefits such as improved concentration, creative problem solving, showing grace under pressure, and being happy!
For years I had a lot of excuses for not taking care of my mental, emotional, and physical health. I put too many things before myself and I was quite unhappy. I thought I had really good reasons for taking care of me last, or not at all. Let’s banish those excuses, shall we?
Image courtesy of piermario
3 Lame Excuses Not To Take Care of Yourself
1. Self-care is selfish.
Self-care is most definitely NOT selfish. Self-care isn’t about letting others down, it’s about being a person that is reliable, accountable, and honest.
If I had pushed myself beyond my limits during recovery and published new blog posts I have no doubt they would have been sub-par. There’s a reason pain medications come with a warning not to drive or operate heavy brain machinery- my concentration and focus was compromised.
When I’m irritable, overwhelmed or unreliable it’s usually because I’m not taking care of me. Who am I really helping when I’m feeling out of sorts? When you take care of you first you’ll find you have more care to give to others.
2. I don’t have time.
You have time to do dozens of things you don’t really want to do so why don’t you have a little time for you? The truth is you’re just making excuses!
I sat at home for two weeks not doing much of anything besides watching movies on Netflix and sleeping. My regular routine was far, far away, and truth be told I find it easier to keep up with blogging and other activities when my schedule is more full.
Self-care doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time- maybe for you self-care is listening to a book on tape during your daily commute, or boosting your mood with upbeat music. Maybe you take a walk every day exercising yourself while you walk the dog.
There are lots of ways to take care of yourself so don’t fall for the excuse that you don’t have time. Besides, when I take care of me I find I often get more done!
3. My family/friends/job needs me.
We all have responsibilities to others and that can be a good thing! Sharing our life with others is a great way to connect, build community, share love, but I’m here to tell you if you don’t love yourself, you’re not going to be healthy or happy.
I write about living a great life but what kind of inspiration could I offer to you, my readers, if I wasn’t working on living a great life myself? Taking the time I needed to recover was exactly what I needed to do to continue to share a message of awesome living with you!
Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean you aren’t there for other people- it simply means you’re there for yourself AND other people. Plus those people in your life are going to appreciate the healthier, happier you when you’re practicing self-care.
If you’re like me and you want to live a happy, healthy and awesome life, make sure to take care of you! I’m so glad I took care of myself during my recovery, even though I did miss blogging. 🙂
Do you enjoy my content that focuses on self care? There’s a lot more of it in my book, Beautiful Badass: How to Believe In Yourself Against the Odds! Check it out here!
I love your comments! What excuses do you make for not taking care of yourself? How are you going to practice self-care today?