One Little Word - Self Care, Action & Chores

At the end of each of my Volunteer Training sessions, we do a feelings check-in and self-care statement. The other day my self care was something along the lines of: "I am going to go home and do chores! Take out the garbage and recycle! Do the dishes!"

Now, this may sound like the opposite of what we know as "self care", but in actuality, self care just means doing something that makes you feel ....[not sure about the word I am looking for here. whole, balanced, in control, something like that]

It took me a reaaaalllly loooong time to recognize that I need a certain kind of structure in my life, and more specifically in my daily life, in order to feel good and in control. I mean, I was 36.5 before I realized that washing at least one dish everyday was integral to my overall mental health.

And now that I wash at least one dish everyday, I can keep up with and focus on other things. It frees up my mental space, and the domino effect this has on other things in my life is astounding.

For me, self care means having a plan and a routine.

For me, self care means doing chores.

For me, self care means creating "good" habits.

For me, self care means making a bunch of meals and having them in the freezer on days when I didn't plan ahead.

I am filing this under One Little Word, because it was thanks to my word - ACTION - that I came to this realization this year.

It seems so simple, and some readers might be shaking their heads at me, but I have never been really good at creating structure for myself and sticking to it. It feels surprising and amazing now that I have figured this out and have seen such benefits happening already. With this momentum and energy I feel like I can tackle pretty much anything.

Any other amazing revelations out there from my fellow readers with a OLW? Or just my readers in general?!

xo