Defining Self Care

Care on it's own is defined as the provision of what is necessary for health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone of something. For a long time now, care has meant looking after everyone else; making sure everyone else is happy. If that was the case, then things were good. I've recently taken a step back and looked at what happy & healthy means to me - and it wasn't the picture I was looking at.

At the beginning of August, I told myself I needed to make a change. I wanted to start taking care of myself again. I'd been very frustrated with things that were happening at work and in turn, let myself slide into a little bit of a funk. One of the things I needed to do was start to let things go. Stop holding that grudge. Stop letting things that were out of my control bother me. And with that - start saying no to the things that I did have control over. This was huge for me. I've been happier and saying "no" has led to more time for things that matter to me.

As cheesy as it sounds, I bought a FitBit for motivation. I have a bunch of girlfriends who have one as well, and we challenge each other to the Work Week Hustle or the Weekend Warrior. I'm a pretty competitive person so that helps to push me hard to win!  Part of the app is also tracking how much water you drink. I can be bad for that! Realizing at the end of the day that the waterbottle I started my day with is still 3/4 full. My goal has been to stop and take a sip in between each client (athlete) that I see. It's not going to kill them or make me super behind to take a quick drink. I also started going to the gym and it helps to have those friendly faces who go at the same time to keep you accountable.

With all of those things coming into play, it helped me start to change the rest of my lifestyle - I started to eat better and get to sleep earlier. I wake up either before my alarm or when my alarm goes off, not 5 snoozes later! I'm also a lot less guilty when I mess up - miss a day at the gym or have pizza for dinner. Balance is key, and I don't feel bad about that anymore or let it mess up all my hard work! You just jump back on the wagon and keep going :)