A Day For You

So it's the beginning of another work week and I'm home sick. There's always been something about being a mother that you have to sacrifice those little things in order to take care of your child, but one thing that I find I give up alot is my sick leave from work! So here I am home from work scraping the barrell of sick leave hoping to have just enough for me!! Why is it that we mothers do everything we can to take care of everyone else but forget to take care of ourselves in the meantime. I find that I'm the world's worse when it comes to taking care of my health.

It's so important that women do everything they can to take care of themselves. I find that so many women run themselves ragged before they realize they need to slow down. And dont worry, i'm not the expert on taking care of yourself by no means, i'm quite the opposite. I dont slow down until my body makes me, which is not the way to do it. We go a million miles an hour taking care of the house, the children, responsibilities at work and church, and all those other extra things that manage to slip in. And you know, we really can't blame anyone but ourselves. I realize that I do have the word "no" in my vocabulary but perhaps it's not used near enough. I find that I want to help everyone out and that saying "no" may seem like a bad thing. But as I get a little older (will not venture to say wiser just yet!!) I find that it's just as important to take care of ourselves as it is others. What good are we to others if we are too busy taking care of everyone else and drive our health into the ground. So as I write this, I am hoping to begin taking much better care of myself. I am working on telling myself that it's not a bad thing to slow down and to also schedule things in my day that are just for me.

If you are like me, you schedule everything else first, and then if there is any time left, you may look at scheduling something in for yourself. But almost always, there's that last minute phone call of someone asking you to do something that gets put into that timeslot that was going to be for you. So as we think about our schedules, lets look back to when we actually took some time for ourselves. And no, being sick does not count. I'm talking the last time you actually had a day to yourself.......and if you're like me, you're probably having trouble remembering the last time. But how about from today on, let's look at our schedules and take the initiative to schedule one day a month (you can do more but this is a starting point) where it's all about you. I know i'm quite simple in the things i like to do. When the whole family is home, the tv is on and there are toys out and constant conversation, which is great, but when it's a day to myself, I want to stay home, turn the tv off, and read, maybe clean house. I know some of this does not sound relaxing, but it's how I relax. If I can just have a day where I can do things at a slow pace. Maybe go in and clean that bedroom just the way I want it or maybe I will have the tv on and have a chic flic in to watch!! But either way, it's a day just to wind down. We all need those days. It's vital to our health in every way possible!!

So I'll save all the other things we need to do to take care of ourselves for another blog (because I know you're just dying to hear my opinion!! )but atleast see what you can do to put this first one into play. I know I will. And this is a hard one to put into practice. I have been trying for a while but I find that I soon forget that i'm suppose to be scheduling myself time and here we go again with that busy schedule. But as I go back to why I'm writing this at this time of day it's because i'm home from work sick. My body has had enough and it's truly my own fault why I am sick. We have to take care of ourselves and be proactive with our health!! So good luck venturing out with taking care of yourselves!! It's ok to say "no" to some of those requests made of you and it's ok to have a day entirely for yourself!! No guilt required!!