A few weeks ago, I talked about trying out a week of self care experiment. Â I was going on a trip where most of my self care managing techniques (being close to loved ones, being in charge of my own schedule, being close to my pups) were stripped away. Â I decided to spend the week observing the ways in which I exercised (or didn’t exercise) self care and what methods I used. Â Well, the results are here! Â Each day, I kept a diary of sorts…what things happened, any anxieties I was feeling, and how I reacted to myself.
Friday — leaving town, feeling stressed. Â asked Brett to take the morning off which helped ease my feelings of anxiety a lot. Â was nervous to drive the last shift of the day but I napped and got some caffeine before my turn to drive began. Â Notes: Â I felt stress and nerves but asked for what I needed or took care of myself as required.
Saturday — driving the rest of the way to SC. Â felt actual disinterest in the rest of the trip away from home. Â ignored myself until the feelings passed. Â dinner…oh so tired. Â Notes: Â I actually ignored myself while feeling uncomfortable…
Sunday — church in the am, quick lunch, and afternoon in charleston. Â kept losing the group I was walking with. Â felt sad and excluded. Â pep-talked with myself and ended up having a great time. Â once back at our home base, packed lunch for the next day. Â Notes: Â Reminding myself that I was great company and totally willing and able to direct my own attention and take care of my needs was very helpful in soothing the feelings of discomfort and exclusion. Â I anticipated my needs for the next day and took care of some of them ahead of time.
Monday — woke up first, took quick shower, and had time to relax a little before everyone else woke up. Â rainy and cold at the work site. Â felt uninterested and unenthusiastic by the work and weather. Â providence brought a hardware store run (heat in the car!) and a long lunch. Â then more rain, but also more laughter. Â Notes: Â I tried not to be too hard on myself while feeling lethargic but I also noticed that I ignored myself instead of attempting to provide comfort.
Tuesday — much nicer weather. Â working felt easier. Â evening schedule changed abruptly which annoyed me. Â went with it, even ran after having taken a shower. Â wrote a little. Â Notes: Â I like having a schedule and knowledge of how best to take care of myself. Â The evening’s schedule was changed quickly and so I was completely ready for something that I then needed to wait another 2 hours for. Â I hate that in normal life so handling it while on the trick felt difficult. Â I went with the flow, took a run after having showered and you know what? Â It worked out fine.
Wednesday — was better about being 100% ready to go instead of 98% ready to go and then being the last one out the door while taking care of the last 2%. Â met 2 lovely pups who quickly stole my heart. Â felt very vulnerable and experienced some frightening past and potential animal tragedies in my head while driving to and fro and while eating lunch. Â deep breathed and thought calming, soothing, loving thoughts. Â Notes: Â I calmed myself like I would calm a friend and my feelings of anxiety and panic passed.
The rest of the week we were on a beach and far more in control of our food and our schedule.  Sooo I stopped writing self care entries 🙂  I had some trouble on the way home…I was having back spasms and experiencing quite a lot of pain.  Once I was able to control the physical pain though, my emotional stability improved as well.
Overall notes: Â Near the start of the trip, I literally ignored myself while feeling anxious or apathetic. Â This seems like a pretty miserable way to self care. Â I would never ignore an anxious or sad friend so why do I ignore myself?! Â Eventually I took control over my feelings of anxiety when they would arise. Â I talked to soothe myself and relieve my panic, I preemptively balanced my need for personal space (waking up first) as well as other needs (making my lunch ahead of time and going for a run even though I’d already showered), and tried to frame these small tasks in my brain as acts of love and caring. Â I was able to speak with my husband every night and he regularly sent me text message pictures of our pups. Â I seem to default to talking my way out of panic. Â I’d love to explore other ways of handling my self care when a crisis crops up.
The basic thing that I learned from this trip? Â I handle my self care regularly but I still have a lot of work to do. Â Ignoring myself seems like I tactic I should stop as soon as possible and developing other methods of self care, different from the soothing and calming self talk that I used, seems advantageous. Â It was a nice proof though that I can, in fact, go totally outside of my comfort zone, take care of myself and others around me while having a good time.
How do you self care? Â Any tips or tricks that we could share with others?