Yeah, yeah, it’s not a Sunday. But you know what? That’s ok. I think if I put that much pressure on myself to get this up and out every Sunday, then it would probably defeat the purpose. So, as long as I spent the Sunday actually self-caring, happy out.
So, what was this week? Well, I’ve just finished a fairly manic, though enjoyable two weeks of teaching at summer camp. I tell ya, there’s nothing like teaching the subject you’re devoting your career to to people who actually want to learn about it. I was teaching young teenagers about Psychology, and it was such a different experience to teaching first year undergrads statistics (my regular job). They should really be more clear about how much maths is involved in an undergrad psychology degree to be fair. But I digress.
The teaching was fun but it took over my life. I hadn’t cleaned, I hadn’t done anything beyond the basics to get me up and out the door each day, and combined with some previous engagements each evening, I barely managed to get my jacket off before falling into bed each evening. So my bedroom was a mess, my brain was a mess, I was a mess. And not a hot mess, no. A mess mess.
So, Sunday was spent re-organising, in preparation for getting back into a routine come this morning. I tidied and cleaned the bedroom, I sorted out the mess in my brain (by switching off and taking a long walk), I practiced some actual self-care with a manicure, and I got myself in enough order that I wasn’t falling behind this morning before I’d even started.
I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it made a big difference to me. Lads, if anyone told me this self-care thing could be that simple, I’d have been onto it years ago! I mean, this morning was still a Monday morning, still hard to get up, but not that hard. And even though I was running late (lookit, we’re working on small steps, yeah?), I was ready to go for the most part from the day before.
It’s funny, but I think there are some things that don’t seem like they’re self-care, because you do them anyway, but really they are. Long hot showers, for example – how often are you in and out lickety split? Yeah, you’re clean, you’ll do, but how often did you stop and enjoy it? there’s little better than letting the hot water stream over you as you take a few breathers. And, another thing – tv shows? How often do we either watch them while we’re doing something else, or mindlessly lose a full day to a binge? I’m guilty, your honour, of both, but yesterday I watched just one episode of a show and then went on to the next task. And I found myself thinking more about the show than usual, and remembering more of it too. Weird, right?
So I think that I’m beginning to crack this whole self-care malarky. Which is great, because I’m on a mission to get better, in a general, overall kinda way, and those that know more stuff than me tell me self-care is where it’s at these days. Next of all, I’ll be posting self-care Sundays on a Sunday, and we won’t even know what’s hit us!
Lemmy used to say the same about music. We throw music on in the background of doing other things, so we don’t actually listen to it and enjoy it. He used to get angry at people for talking when he was trying to listen to an album. Valid point.
Yeah, I think there’s something in there about slowing down and being mindful and that’s why these things can be part of self-care. We just seem to relegate a lot of it to secondary or co-occurring actions now. Lemmy was on to something I reckon! Although I do also think there’s something to be said about respecting the work that goes into a song by giving it full attention too.
Totally agree