Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - What Does YOUR Self Care Look Like? | Clutterbug Podcast # 54

Episode Date: June 12, 2018

This week I'm focusing on self care! I had to google the term to find examples of what self care woudl even look like! For me, it's all about being present in the moment...just sitting with my thoughts without distraction.  What does self care look liek for you?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys and welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. Today I want to talk for a second about self-care. So thanks so much for joining me. I have to tell you, I actually signed up for coaching, I guess, life coaching. I always sort of judged and rolled my eyes at the, I'm not. idea of life coaching, but I went to a woman's meeting and there was someone there who was offering sort of like a baby intro life coaching session, which means it's a group session done online. And we have weekly calls and she just posts things on our Facebook page to sort of motivate and

challenge us every week. And it's a 12 week sort of program. And today, this morning, she posted about self-care. And I'm going to tell you, I was watching. I was watching. this video of her talking about self-care from my bed at 11 o'clock, A.m., not P.m., still hadn't got out of bed. And I was watching House, and I stopped House to watch her video about self-care. And I'm going to be honest, I had to Google what self-care was. I mean, I know I've watched the Oprah specials, and I've heard people talk about, you know, it's taking care of yourself. I'm not a complete moron. I get the concept, but I didn't know specifically, I wanted to know like what things I could do that translated into self-care. So I googled it and I looked at a lot of people doing different options.

And one of the things I saw all the time was get enough rest. I read this as I'm laying in bed after getting my kids on the bus and getting them off to school and then going back to bed for hours and then laying in bed watching television. Another thing that I saw about self-care was, you know, taking time for yourself. And again, I was doing that in my bed, not really feeling like self-carey. And I really had to think about it. I had to think like there are different types of people. And some people who tend to be workaholics, that would be something that would be really beneficial for them. But for me, I'm laying in bed. because I'm distracting myself from the fact that I have no motivation to get up and work.

I know the things I should be doing and I don't want to. I don't want to put in my big girl pants and go to work for the day and do a podcast or film a video. And so I'm distracting myself by watching television, by surfing the web, by having a nap when I really don't need it. It isn't care. It's the opposite of care. So I went back down the list of things.

to do for self-care and exercise was on there. I'm not quite there yet. Give yourself a facial was on there or go to the spa and I realized that what it really comes down to, it's doing things that you don't normally do that are good for you. So I grabbed my bike, I got the dog a leash and I made my mission to bike to the park, which is quite far. I made it halfway there, and I realized that I haven't exercised in a very long time. And so I was, this was a little, it was overkill. After, you know, 20 minutes into my bike ride, I realized I also had another 20 minutes to go and then would have to turn it around and go back. And it wasn't feeling like something that was bringing me joy. So I turned around, I went back, and instead, we got into the car and I went to the park. I drove to the park,

the dog park with the dog and sat on a picnic bench and just looked around at nothing. I refused to take my phone out of my pocket and I looked at trees and flowers and nature and honestly, I felt like my skin was going to crawl because it's not something that I normally do. I have total ADHD and I don't sit and just look at nature and sit in the park. I don't sit and watch my kids play. I don't enjoy just the moment, the quiet of the moment without distractions. And it was in that moment where I was struggling with this, that I realized for me, this is what self-care looks like. And this isn't what self-care looks like maybe for you or for anyone else.

But for me, just sitting and being quiet and just watching the pollen that was, you know, the white fluffy pollen from the trees, like blow around. it looked like snow. I'm crazy allergic to it, but I sat and I looked at it instead of like, oh my God, this is going to make my eyes water and me sneeze. I just looked at it for what it was, and that was beautiful. And I looked around at the flowers and they looked so bright and the clouds. It was a beautiful day and it wasn't too hot and it was really beautiful and windy. And and something happened. Something happened while I sat there in the park watching my dog run around and pee on everything every five seconds, which normally drives me crazy.

I felt a little trickle of joy come back in. I felt what people are talking about, what that feeling that comes with self-care. And so after I enjoyed it and I sat there for a full half an hour, I decided to come back and make a podcast because, yeah, I think it is important that we have, we schedule ourselves time for self-care, but that we're not doing it the way that other people are doing it necessarily. So for me, self-care isn't taking a day off and laying on the couch watching television. And self-care isn't having an extra nap or sleeping in, but that could be self-care for some people who really don't take time to ever do that. For me, self-care is just

being in the moment. And you know what? Later today, I'm going to Google a DIY facial. I've never given myself a facial in my feet. I could probably give myself a facial with the dry skin on my feet. That's like I think it's fully and it's terrible. So that's what I'm going to do today. I'm going to do that. Something that I never do that I think is silly and frivolous and I really usually don't have the patience for. That's what I'm going to make time for today. So I want you to think about yourself. I want you to think about, yeah, what you think is self-care. And what self-care would look like to you. And I definitely know that exercise is going to be a part of that for me and drinking more water. I don't drink enough water. But I definitely get enough rest. And I probably

get too much rest. I use that as an escaping mechanism from what I really should be doing in my life. And sometimes I use work as an escape from doing things like watching my kids play or sitting and watching the pollen blow around outside, just enjoying the moment. It's so, so hard for me to do. And I have no idea why. But obviously that's what I need to work on and that's what I need to focus on. So my kids are getting off the bus in a few minutes and we're going outside to play, which, and I'm not bringing my phone and I don't know what we're going to do. They also, because they have never seen me really do it, they're not great at this either. I mean, what five-year-old can't have fun playing in a sandbox? My kid, he needs distraction. He likes his tablet or he likes to like do something all the time. My kids also struggle with just being content in the moment. So we're going to practice that every day, just relaxing, detaching from technology and watching the pollen blow around outside, which is probably going to make me sneeze and make my eyes water. but it's also going to bring in some joy. So that is what I wanted to challenge you today.

And I'm going to keep you guys posted as this life coaching session goes on every week. We're going to have new topics. I'm going to just let you know what I'm learning from there. And maybe it can transition and help you in your life as well. So it's a short little podcast today. I hope you guys enjoyed, get outside or have a nap or give yourself a facial. I don't know what your self care looks like. I'm curious, actually, if you want to put a comment and let me know, but I'm going to challenge you to make room for it today, because it is definitely more important than we think. Thank you guys so much, and I'll talk to you next time.