"If compassion does not include yourself. It is incomplete."
When most of us think of self-care we may associate that with doing an activity we like such as traveling, shopping, tending to your plant babies etc. Those are all great acts of self-care but after a recent experience with my health I was reminded of how self-care can also be in the form of stillness. It can mean that maybe you just do nothing and just spend time with yourself and your thoughts.
My mom and a great friend of mine told me to really take it easy and just give my body a rest. Of course I was like “yeah you guys are right, I’ll do that,” meanwhile I’m also booking my next Yoga/Pilates class, I’m asking a friend if we can go on a hike cause I need to be in nature, and just pretty much anything to keep me busy. But being busy is not resting, being busy is not giving my body and mind the time it needs to simply reset. I love all the physical activities I engage in and it’s something I do to stay healthy of course but it’s also for my mental health. A way I try shake my depressive states and anxiety episodes is to just MOVE. Sometimes that’s what I need and as i said earlier, sometimes I’m just in need of stillness and a moment with self.
I believe my body said, “Chile if you won’t be still then we just gone sit you down another way.” I also believe I have probably been burning myself out a lot and not dealing with my emotions properly and that all showed up in the way I woke up the other day and just felt HORRIBLE. I had night chills, woke up with constant nausea, chest pains, couldn’t talk much without getting winded, and other issues I will not name but just know your girl was a MESS! I wasn’t sure if I was coming down with something (can anyone say COVID SCARE!) or if my current stress and anxiety was taking yet another toll on me. After half a day in the ER and many tests later I was sent home. All my tests were fine, my Covid test was negative and they pretty much said I’m healthy and hopefully this all just passes in a days’ time.
Its 4:30am the next day and while my body still feels the same. I plan to do nothing today and really spend much needed time with myself and my thoughts. I was inspired to write this post so that others can be reminded that Self Care comes in different shapes and sizes and we should all have a balance in what tools we use to honor that. I believe it’s important to know when to go and when to take a pause for our mind, body, and souls’ sake.
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