Self-care is NOT a dirty word

If it feels good, then it HAS to be sinful (bad, wrong, illicit, fill in the blank).

Really?

Says who?  Oh yes, those lovely Puritans who stood for right and purity.  They had a lot of good qualities.  But they also wrote the book on fun-sucking.

Western society is so incredibly stressful that unless we have a way to decompress, we end up hurting ourselves, and undermining our ability to help the very people we love.  In fact, we might even end up hurting our loved ones in the long run.

Lately I have been forced to look after myself.  My body protests when I don't.  I have had to make time to lie down on a heating pad with my knees up, to relax the muscles in my back enough so that I don't have to go to a chiropractor.... again.  Truth be told, I really enjoy the time I get to spend this way, but inside my head there is this never-ending stream of voices clamouring for me to look after this person or that person, to do this chore or that chore.  

So to drown all that out, I remind myself that I need to look after me.  If the guilt is still hounding me, I get out a good book and start to read - or I get my iPod out - or I just drift off to sleep.  Self-care restores my body's shenanigans to a manageable level.  

The human spirit is like that too.  I need to look after my inside - just as much as my outside.  

I see teens hooked up all day long every day to their listening devices, and while I can't really see myself going that far, there have been times when I have just needed to "tune out" and feed my spirit.

I do that in several ways.  Music is one - writing is another. Occasionally I will Skype a friend - or a relative if I'm in a good mood (grin).  And sometimes (especially in the summer - okay, ONLY in the summer and maybe the fall) it's actually going outside into the sunshine.

One of the things I have had to remind myself about, over and over again as I travel this journey of healing, is that if God rested the seventh day, then why do I feel guilty for needing to rest?  

Resting re-energizes.  It allows me to accomplish more - and resting spiritually helps me to focus on what is important rather than majoring on minors.  I have spent way too long in my life majoring on minors.

Spiritually lately, I've been running on empty. I've allowed things that people think and say to affect me far more than they normally would.  So now, I think I will take some time to do what feeds my inner self.  That way I'll have energy reserves left over to devote to the ones in my life who matter most to me - my husband, my children, and my friends.