SELF CARE

SELF CARE

Self care is one of the most important things in anyone’s life.  I always cared about my self and tried to stay healthy but however as I am aging I am finding out more and more just how important this aspect of my life is.  Unfortunately I do not think that any of us realize this until later in life and then we keep finding out that the better we care for ourselves the better we can care for others.  So how important is it to me? Well it is number one and crucial for my life.  Let me share with you a few examples that I believe all of us probably can relate to.  When I was a child my mother always told me to brush my teeth, go to bed, all the stuff that a mother or father usually says.  Well how many times did we all feel that they were just being a pain in our necks?  We didn’t really care and we all wanted to do what we wanted.  I’m sure we all have gone to bed at night as a child not brushing our teeth and chuckling in bed saying “well I got away with it tonight”.  And how many of us stayed up all night because it was cool.  Well we should have all listened to our parents because now that I am older and a parent I realize why it was so important.  Do you think about gum disease as a child or teenager? No.  Do you know what sleep deprivation can do to you and the consequences of it when you are a teenager? No. Or what about all those days spent in the sun with oil and tinfoil.  I’m sure some of you did that. 

Well let me share a story with you that relates to this.  I was a sun worshiper when I was growing up.  I would lay in the sun for hours everyday I possibly could and I would let the rest of many gorgeous days in summer go by without enjoying anything but sweating on a lawn chair trying to get as dark as I could.  Well my mother used to freak out about it and beg me not to lie in the sun.  She said “that is so bad for you, it is not healthy”.  But I fought with her many times about it and said “but look how good I look”, with my dark tan.  Oh I burnt myself many many times with blisters but I kept doing it.  I even would lay my lawn chair in the snow in Feb and start my summer tanning that early. Well there is a good and bad part to this story.  One summer about  fourteen years ago I noticed three small freckles on my stomach got very large within weeks and I went to the dermatologist to check it out, and he suggested that I have them removed and he was kind enough to suggest a  plastic surgeon because I was young and in shape.  So I went to the plastic surgeon to see what she thought not thinking much of it because they were only freckles nothing looked unnormal just that they got bigger quickly, well to my surprise she insisted on emergency surgery and then she looked at the rest of my upper body and started circling freckles all over and said that I was in trouble as I was extremely tan and had done so much sun damage and could possibly have skin cancer.  I was like WHAT! Not me, how could that be I was only tanning.  The usual it can’t happen to me.  Well I should have listened to my mother!  I ended up having two emergency surgeries both about four hours a piece and when it was all done I was left with seventy five incisions with about two to six stitches each.  So needless to say that I have many many scars all over my body that I have to live with now because I did not take care of myself.  So how good do I feel now?  After it was all over I found out that the surgeon overreacted and I did not need all of those freckles removed but it was for my well being to make sure it was not melanoma. I am so happy to tell you that it was not! And I am ok.  However I have seventy five scars, went through a lot of pain, and have way too many freckles still, all because I wanted to look good.  So why am I sharing this with you, because we only learn how important self care is sometimes when it is too late.  I now stay out of the sun and Thank GOD everyday that I survived a very stupid thing of not caring for myself. 

So now that I am older and wiser I realize that if you do not eat healthy, exercise, have good sleeping habits, reduce stress, and give yourself personal time, then you my friends are hurting yourself and everyone around you because these things are essential to feeling good and being able to cope with everyday problems and be a happy person for the people you relate to.  If you abuse any of the things that I just listed then your entire balance will be off.  I know from personal experience.  I have an extremely stressful job and I work another job also and I am a very very busy person.  I have learned from my fiancé  Fernando that eating healthy is so important and how it affects your mood and the way you function.  He has taught me the sugar and cupcake queen what it is like to eat healthy and the difference in how I can feel.  I will admit that it is an every day struggle for me and have a hard time sticking to it.  But it is a challenge and if I do it for weeks at a time then my entire life changes and everything is easier.  It is the same way with sleep, it is vital in how your mood is and how you can stay focused at work.  I know that it is not easy to eat right, get enough sleep, exercise and find personal time to reduce stress but let me tell you from someone who works a lot of doubles YOU CAN FIND THE TIME because when you find the balance with all of these self cares then you will definitely reap the benefits of self care.  I truly believe that everyone realizes this more and more as they get older. So I encourage you today to start a better and healthier life. 

So how do I take care of myself when I am super busy?  Well sometimes if I am very stressed then I will listen to rock music very loud and let the stress out.  A good Def Lepeord, or Whitesnake  song definitely helps. I am also very fortunate to have a fiancé that will give me daily massages and that relieves any stress or bad day.  I also sit and think about how successful my daughter is and what an accomplishment it is to have raised such a wonderful child by myself and that seems to take any bad thoughts and turn them good.  I have now learned to stop and take time for me regardless of what I have to put aside, because again if I am a mess then what good will I be for anyone else.  Even if it is just a few minutes or an hour at the park for a walk I find it is critical to do this for me to stay healthy.  I also try to avoid over packing my schedule, if I have had a very busy week then the next week I make sure it won’t be as bad.  So I try to rotate the areas in my life so that it is not all piled up everyday.  I am finding out that it is ok to let some things wait until tomorrow.  But most of all I have discovered that the one and only thing that helps not matter what the situation is, is my relationship with GOD.  I have found that my religion is the best self care that I can give to myself.  When I feel that there is no place to go or I do not know what to do with myself next, this is where I find peace.  The better my relationship is the better my life is.

If you want to take extra great care of yourself then my suggestion would be in one word MODERATION and that goes for anything.  If it is in moderation then chances are that it’s ok.  We all have busy lives today but we all also need to remember society caused this and we all need to look at ourselves and take time to smell the roses, for none of us ever knows how long we have, you will be so much happier as a person and enjoy life so much more if you eat right, sleep right, exercise even if it is only a little bit here and there, and take some time for YOU! You will be so much more for the people in your life but most of all you will feel great and if you exercise a lot then you will look great too!

Let me just finish with this.  GOD says let us be like children and that is what we should all do, just have fun.  Go to the park run around and get dirty like when you were a child and get an ice-cream from the ice-cream truck.  Play hard and sleep hard and laugh like children do and you will see just how great self care can be.  I wish the best self care for all of you.  YOU CAN DO IT!

http://www.innerworkspublishing.com/news/vol1/selfcare.htm