Don't drain yourself with negativity, destruction, and chaos instead bask in the light of positivity, balance, and clarity
Are you the type to start working the moment your eyes open? Or are you worse like me? I am the type that would struggle with creating boundaries for how I would control my work life I would even dream about working and what needed to be done or how I needed to move things around. See being in the medical field we have our main set schedules and the on-call schedules but being the manager meant I had to oversee EVERY aspect of the employees and their schedules whilst having my own patient load working days and nights. As you can imagine my brain was always running and sleep was the very last thing on my mind. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I had a “problem” I mean my family, friends, and boyfriend all said things over the years but I was SUPERWOMAN I wanted to do it all! Shoot even the first time hanging out with Zach I could only give him about 20 minutes of my time before I had to book it to my overnight job... So Yes, the first time hanging out with this wonderful hunk of mine I was in my scrubs haha. I have lived this way since I was 14 working my very first job juggling full-time school, sports, and being a competitive dancer all at once.
Now don’t let me fool you there were times I would do the occasional face mask or the coconut oil hair treatments even the nail salon and I considered these to be self-care. I mean what more could you possibly do with such a busy life? BOY! did I find out! I love my crazy chaos although It didn’t occur to me until the Corona Virus -19 pandemic hit, to realize I needed to slow down and take a good deep inner look at my life. Due to having health issues my job didn’t want to risk me being exposed and they essentially put me on the great ol’ house arrest. It was at this time that I started to feel my anxiety and depression hit me like a brick wall. I went from working nonstop to nothing in a blink of an eye literally overnight. It was in this time I discovered that drowning myself in work and keeping busy only meant I was suppressing and prolonging everything I was trying to run away from.
Tough times don't last but tough people do
So, I decided it was time for ME! I started to research what self-care actually meant and Yes! it can involve the beloved face/ hair masks, the salons, and buying anything that makes you feel good about yourself but self-care is way more than that. It’s also taking care of your mental and physical health which this part is not always the fun part. It's taking those steps back and reevaluating your life to prune out the negativity to make room from more positivity. Here are the steps I did in order to assess my new plan of attack! Implementing these techniques during our downtime will set a routine in place in hopes of continuing on this healthy path once schedules pick back up. These steps are also good for those of you that have not had a quarantine lockdown (to all our essential workers I thank you!) These steps are great implementing in all facets of life.
1) Build Boundaries- This can be for anything that you may feel is OVER controlling your life and time. This is apart of utilizing your work time for work and home time for home. Make sure to take time for YOU!
2) Schedule of importance- I used this on a daily from bigger tasks to the order I was going to clean my home. By doing this it helped me make a plan and its very rewarding to physically mark them as completed.
3) Mental Awakening- This was a strong step for myself and it will be different for everyone. This was the time I set aside to go through any baggage I may be holding on to and find ways to release it. Think of this as decluttering your mind. By working through some of my deep-rooted issues my mind physically started to feel more clear. This is not a fast or easy step it may take time and as for myself I continue to do this daily via meditation and praying. I also take lots of notes during this step so I can look back and see how far I have come. I took a look at what may have been triggering my anxiety and depression and tried to turn it into a positive. Now this didn't magically fix all my problems but it did help me realize that not everything I thought to be triggering was in fact triggering. I realized that if I didn't have time to fully process something it would just be filed under the negatives instead of being worked through.
Don't be pushed around by fears in your mind be led by the dreams in your heart
4) Fitness- Fitness has always really been part of my life in one way or another but that does not always mean I am in shape or eat healthily all the time. I have struggled my whole life with body dysmorphia which is viewing one’s self in a different light than others may view you. So, this meant I would struggle with eating too much or not enough, working out too much or not at all. Because the gyms are closed for the quarantine my boyfriend built a mini gym space in our garage and I go down and work out as much or as little as I seem fit. I stopped listening to my mind and let my body take over and I am so pleased to say I am enjoying the results more and more. Just make a goal and stick to it!
5) Beauty package- Because I am naturally always on the go putting on makeup and dressing up was every blue moon. I didn’t realize that taking time whether 5 minutes or more to sit and do your hair or makeup is also the time you can self-reflect and learn to love the skin you are in. Sitting in front of a mirror looking back at yourself can be such a scary possibly discouraging thing. This has actually been a huge struggle of mine to the point I have gone months without looking in the mirror for any reason besides when driving haha. This became the time that I took to learn to really appreciate myself. Once a day I would say one feature I liked about myself while looking in the mirror... Now this may seem shallow or silly but this is all about SELF CARE! I had to learn to love every ounce of my body from my shape to the scar I have above my lip from when I was a baby or the indent, I have in my forehead from a car accident as a teen... and I am still working on loving all my perfect imperfections. Self-love is such a beautiful thing but please understand I don't think you need to dress a certain way or have to wear makeup to be or feel beautiful but it sure does make me feel SASSY =].
Find time to recharge & Get your Sassy on!
XOXO - A