Take Care of Yourself

Cuz you're the only person who will.
It is officially Self-Care month, with special Self-Care week going on at school right now. I know Self-Care sounds incredibly jargon-y. It's full of buzzword connotations, visions of Divas and weird sensations. Yet, somewhere in there, beneath all of the psychology and the pressure, is an incredibly important concept.
I think that we as a culture are stuck on a disposable phenomena. Allopathic medicine supports this fully- with little thought to preventative care, we are all about disposing of pathology displaying organs. Don't believe me? Do you have your tonsils? Do you know someone missing an appendix? a gallbladder?
We use, use, use until pieces of ourselves can't cope anymore. Then we cut them out and throw them away. Sometimes we pretend we're really complicated machines, and we replace those parts with replaceable parts, like pacemakers and colostomy bags.

Recycling is great, don't get me wrong. I'm just rather attached to my bits. I'd like them to work, and function well. I'd like to take pressure off my body by de-stressing my mind. All the physician, heal thyself jazz...

So without further ado- my top ten ways that help me feel good about living the life I do.


10. I go to the clinic and to the counseling center on a regular basis for advice, which I follow pretty well, even when I have to do uncomfortable and hard lifestyle changes.

9. I make healthy choices in food, even when I would pretty much kill someone for a chocolate bar and some pie.

8. I make a point to give myself at least an hour every day to do something I want to do, like reading a book or watching TV.

7. I try to fit in at least 20 minutes of yoga a day.

6. I meditate every day.

5. I dream big dreams, and I don't ever shoot them down for being implausible.

4. I do my best to feel beautiful every day, whether that's in exfoliating my knees, taking a bath, or spending an hour on my hair. It's the little things that count.

3. I spend ten minutes a day making sure some part of my house is clean

2. I spend time with my husband, even if all we have is a few shared moments of looking for a name tag, or the only moments I get are watching him sleep and cooking him a lunch packed with love.

1. I love myself. Purposefully and intentionally, even when I feel like a jerk or when I fail midterms. I sit down before I sleep, and I find something about myself that I'm proud of, some line in my face that I think is adorable, some thought pattern that I think is good. I used to have to work really hard at this practice. These days it's a little easier (usually) and I find it spills over into just about every other thing on this list. When you love yourself, it's easier to feel beautiful, to decide that you're worth a clean bedroom, to take the time to make sure that you're doing ok physically and mentally.