Episode 315: Practice Self Care At This Time of Year

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Today I'm going to do a podcast on self care. 

And the reason why I'm doing it now is that I find that December January time to be in some ways the hardest time. 

And I just had this idea. I'm recording this a couple weeks before the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays.

And I'm like, Peter, you're going to need to really listen to this in a couple of weeks. 

But yeah, I'm going to be honest. I find December and January to be tough. 

December, because there's so much going on. 

And January, because even if I'm in California, it's cold. Sometimes it's really rainy. And I feel sometimes overwhelmed by the entire year ahead of me.

And I hope someone out there relates to that. 

I do find December and January to be the two trickiest months of the year. All the rest I'll take. But December. December, I particularly find December tough, but January's tough too. 

The focus of this podcast is on self care.

What I most need to do when I'm feeling overwhelmed, whether that be because there's so much going on or because there's so much ahead of me. 

A couple of phrases:

Whatever you put before taking care of yourself, you're going to lose. 

And the thing you're probably gonna lose is your sanity, your peace of mind, your serenity. 

Also, I find that taking care of myself pays enormous dividends. 

I wish I'd mastered that one so much sooner than I did. But at least I think I've got it now. 

Which is taking care of me, loving me, because I'm the person who I'm going to be spending the most amount of time with in my life, and I want to make sure that I have the best relationship with me that I possibly can.

And in order to do that, I need to take good care of myself. 

The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

There's a phrase in coaching and I believe I did a podcast episode about it called planting a seed. 

It's a very powerful tool where you say to yourself, “Yeah, I don't know how I'm going to get everything done, but you know what? I know I'm going to figure it out.”

This first quote is from Language of Letting Go, and Melody says, “I don't precisely know what you need to do to take care of yourself, but I know you can figure it out.

Rest when you're tired. Take a drink of cold water when you're thirsty. Call a friend when you're lonely. Ask the universe to help when you feel overwhelmed. 

Many of us have learned, many of us have learned how to deprive and neglect ourselves. Many of us have learned to push ourselves hard.

When The problem is that we've already pushed too hard. Many of us are afraid the work won't get done if we rest when we're tired. The work will get done. It will be done better than work that emerges from tiredness of soul and spirit.”

 

Seems obvious, but how many times do I just push through? 

I think one of the things that I've learned to do is when I get really tired, is I stop for five minutes and meditate. I find that really helpful. 

OMG, how many times do I let myself get dehydrated? 

Take yourself out to a cafe and journal, if you've got a lot on your mind. 

Thank you universe for helping me to change the story of my being overwhelmed. I invite you to support me in changing this and making a shift. 

And I think more than anything for me, it's when my soul gets tired. When I literally ache in my solar plexus because I'm so spiritually tired because I've been giving so much. But not giving to myself.

Remember that balance. Find that balance. Give to yourself. It's okay to stop. 

It's okay to stop and breathe. It really is. 

And you know what? If something falls apart, I know, planting a seed here, you'll be able to handle it. Because we are never given more than we can handle. We are just given more than we can control.

Because guess what? Controlling is not our business. 

Managing and handling is. 

“Nurtured, nourished people who love themselves and care for themselves are the delight of the universe.” 

And I will add to that, that good can come easily. If you're a workaholic, that's a hard one to swallow, but it is a true concept.

And that is a True that good can come easily. 

“People who are nourished. and nurture themselves are well timed, efficient, and divinely led. Today, I will practice loving self care, even if it just means taking a breath.”