Take Care of Yourself

I haven’t been this relaxed in a very long time.  I took an aerial yoga class and honestly, I don’t know why I ever stopped.  For some reason, I let the busyness of life get in the way.

But there is always a reason not to take care of yourself.  As women, we have a lot of responsibilities—home, job, fur babies, husbands, boyfriends, significant others, and the list goes on.  So, it’s easy to put ourselves at the bottom of the list.

Maintain Balance

When I was a teacher, I always made commitments to myself at the beginning of every school year.  I would promise that I would leave by 4:30 every day, that I would not take papers home to grade, that I would go to aerial class once a week and attend Church on Sunday and make time to organize my pictures once a month….  I would promise myself that this school year, I would maintain balance.

But maintaining “balance” isn’t that simple.  With large classes and teaching Advanced Placement Spanish, responsibilities at home (including our whole house remodel), and just the exhaustion of trying to keep up with life, something always fell to the wayside.  And normally, that something was actually someone—me.

I would skip an aerial class or sleep in on a Sunday or say that I would work on my pictures next weekend.  And one class turned into 7 months’ worth of classes, and one Sunday turned into way too many Sundays, and my pictures did not get organized until the summer rolled around.

Take Care of Yourself

Now that I’ve left teaching and am starting this new career of blogging, I am once again making promises to myself–promising that I will maintain balance in my life.  Of course, I must work.  I have to earn a living!  I have to take care of my husband, Maddie, & Bruna (when she is here).  And I have to help my husband with this never-ending remodel!  But I also have to take care of myself.

So, I’ve gone to aerial yoga and Church and all my pictures are organized and up-to-date.  And I am going to try to remind myself that taking care of me is not selfish or a waste of time or unnecessary.  Actually, taking care of me helps make everything else I do much more productive.  Because when I am calm and less stressed, I treat my family with a softer heart and kinder words.

So, take care of yourself, fabulous one!  You deserve a little “me time.”  What is that one thing that you just absolutely love to do?  Well, go do it!