on self care basics - a mindful musing
potential time investment (estimated reading time): 4 minutes
Happy Wednesday, lovely human 💚
This past week has been quite a doozy to take in, and that’s an extremely mild way to phrase it. We’re living in a time of great controversy and violence and shattering events, and it can feel triggering, mind-numbing, and hopeless at times.
Even after last week’s Mindful Musing with a conscious reminder to check in, I still found myself reading way too much news and doom scrolling through Reddit and other social media. I felt like I couldn’t look away and the panic it stirred up in me poured all over my sleep, my parenting capabilities, my patience level, and my muscle tension. Every day I’ve been sore, short-patiented, and anxious.
What about you? How are you handling all that you’re witnessing? How is it affecting your heart, mind, and body?
I personally get overwhelmed (a lot) thinking about how little I can actually affect change in the whole big wide world. If you’re like me, I see you. And if you’re like me, I still believe we can by making changes where we can — accessibility is key.
Living from a space of love and kindness is invaluable, and it’s becoming a ginormous feat to make that happen consistently. But that’s exactly where we need to invest our energy, and we have to start by investing it in ourselves — because you gotta start with patient zero, right?
Each of us is the beginning. The first step. The first stop on the chain reaction to bigger change.
But it doesn’t start with how we interact with others, it starts with how we treat ourselves. All of our relationships, behaviors, and actions are influenced by how we’re feeling inside, how well we’re resourced, and how much we’re showing ourselves love and kindness.
Supportive self care makes a HUGE difference, and that starts with the often overlooked basics — sleep, water, and food.
This week, I invite us all to focus on those basic needs. They’re critical for our physical and mental health, and part of building a solid system of self care.
Think about all that’s happened so far for you today. How much of that was influenced by how rested, thirsty, or hungry you were?
How you feel in your body impacts your quality of life, how you cope with external stimulation, your relationships with others, and your mental health.
Sadly, these basics are some of the first things we sacrifice in the name of time or productivity or money or whatever else: we sleep less, eat shittier, and forget to drink water.
The bright spot is that these can be some of the easiest things to change by making conscious and intentional choices.
Resourcing yourself habitually and proactively helps you build a relationship of trust and safety with your body. Each act is a message that says you are safe, loved, and cared for. And the effects of those loving acts of self care ripple far outward — beyond anything you can physically touch.
I’m all in favor of keeping this super simple: pick a dedicated container in your schedule to take honest stock of how you’ve been handling those basic needs. Tackle it during journal time or think about it on your ride to work. Be honest. Only you lose out if you fib.
Think about:
how much you’ve been sleeping
how much water you drink daily
what your main nutrition regimen is
Once you have that data, recognize that it’s only data. You might notice an impulse bubbling up to judge the data — RESIST. It’s just neutral information.
Sit with your info, and when it feels best (or convenient), reflect on how those answers are contributing to your daily experience as a living being. Those answers will help you decide if you want to make a change for yourself or reinforce what’s working well.
From there, if you decide to make changes, take the pressure off and make them as manageable and easy as possible — don’t add to your stress level! Use phone alarms, buddy up with a friend, make a post it. Whatever is handy is dandy. This doesn’t have to be a whole upheaval of your daily life.
Get curious about what happens, and if you feel up to sharing, I’d love to hear struggles and successes and observations and silly ass stories. Feel free to send those my way (I could always use a smile).
✨ May this week contain more breathing room
With tender good energy,
photo credit: Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash
