Self-care - Pandemic Edition

The new normal requires a conscious recalibration of our self-care routine.

One thing that I always heard growing up was “do as I say, not as I do.” When I was a pain in the butt kid I didn’t like when adults said that and now that I am a “grown up” I find myself uttering the same phrase. If I wouldn’t take a piece of my own advice, why am I giving it out? This thought brings me to this moment and this blog…One thing that is so important is self-care. Taking care of your mind and body when you are rundown, overwhelmed, anxious or just need a break is essential; I am a huge advocate for it. Having said all of that, I’m the first person to tell you to engage in self-care but oftentimes I am the LAST person to do it for myself. Does this happen to anyone else? 

I can very easily fall into the trap of “I got this; I can handle the stuff that’s on my plate no problem.” With a global pandemic happening and all work/school activities moving virtual and my “office” being a mere 10 feet from the couch, the boundaries that I was used to were gone. I couldn’t leave work at work because work, the gym, and home were all in the same space and continue to be. With my boundaries gone; those things on my plate became heavier and heavier…

For me, self-care when it comes to work and other life activities mean going at a SUSTAINABLE pace. It’s really easy for me to say “yes” to absolutely everything. Oftentimes I’ve found that when I say yes too much, I can’t give a full effort into all of the things that I have said yes to. What ends up happening is what you could call a “domino effect”. Because I can’t give the full effort and attention that I want to, I don’t do as good of a job as I would like, then I am embarrassed about the work that I’ve done and I immediately go down the rabbit hole of “I am terrible at everything and everyone knows it.” Objectively, I know that none of those things are true but it’s so hard to be objective about something when I am totally immersed in the feelings I have about it. 

So, with the idea of a sustainable pace in mind, I have begun to actually take my own advice and utilize a little self-care. Working until 8pm was not an option. Being able to have a work/life balance became a focus for me. I would set up an alarm for myself so the end of the workday would end, and I could take care of my personal life. Whether that was exercise, going to a meeting, spending time with loved ones or just recharging while on the couch, it needed to become a priority. It was really hard at first to have to take my foot off of the gas pedal; it felt like I was doing something wrong. However, when things got hectic, I realized that I made the right decision for myself. 

I’ve recognized that when it comes to listening to my own advice about self-care, the idea of admitting I can’t handle something is what gets in my way. When I sift through that a little, the reality is that I get in my own way. Being able to say no to something can be so beneficial in the long-term and what it did for me was allow me to give 100% to a few things instead of 50% to a lot of things. Life is a marathon, not a sprint and I need to remember that moving at a sustainable pace will help me get closer to the finish line.