I had a realization last week. I felt gross. I wasn’t performing well at work, I was tired, I felt drained, I felt anxious, I felt stressed and hopeless. Basically, I was burnt out. I sat down with my boss and explained to him what was going on and we were able to work things out so I could take some time off to recover. I hate to say it, but I’ve never taken time off of work like this. A week dedicated to self-care. The thing is, I realized if I was not being myself and my colleagues had noticed, it was time to do something.
Taking time for myself was the best thing I could have done. Going into it, I thought it would be a lot of relaxation, but like all things I do, I went after it hard and accomplished more than I could have imagined. I’ve reconnected with my voice and restored my confidence.
How I achieved this:
1. Talking to friends and family
I talked to my team at work, my parents, my sister and close friends about what I was going through. Everyone was incredibly supportive. This made all the difference. The one thing that could have ruined any chance of success was feelings of guilt. With many words of kindness (and even a special care package!) I felt so loved and it was a nice reminder that people have my back. I needed to start being there for myself too.
2. Retail therapy
The first day I just SPLURGED. I stumbled upon a store downtown that is a lot like TJ Maxx where they have designer clothes at discounted prices. I showered myself in clothes that made me feel confident and beautiful (without breaking the bank).
3. Identified short-term and long-term goals
I spent a lot of time outside. I went to the beach every day. I thought about why I’m doing what I’m doing. ‘Why am I working these long hours? What am I working towards? Where am I going? What do I truly care about?’ I’m a very goal-driven person, and I realized I was out of touch with my goals. This had left me with a feeling of aimlessly wandering through my days. I made a point to write out my short-term goals first. I needed focus on how to prioritize my time for the upcoming months. Then I wrote out my long-term goals. What I want for my life. Given that these goals will take years to achieve, I like to revisit them because they change as I get older.
4. 3-day juice cleanse
I’ve never done anything like this before. I wish I had done a little research first… Anywho, I had been eating a lot of garbage lately and it left me feeling anxious – literally, after eating potato chips, I’d feel painfully anxious with a knot in my stomach – and unhappy with the way my body was looking. Little did I know, many people consider a 3-day juice cleanse to be a challenge. I had it in my head this would be totally easy and no big deal. Day 1 was fine. Day 2 and 3? That was a different story. But I felt good about pumping nutrients into my system. Through previous modifications to my diet and eating health consciously, I have noticed when what I eat makes me body look and feel bloated. What I’ve learned about inflammation is that it doesn’t just affect the areas we can see. I had a feeling that the way my body harbors stress – in my shoulders and tightness in my lower back – that any inflammation likely makes things worse. Where I typically see inflammation is from my skin. I had eczema as a child and still have the occasional break out here and there as an adult.
On the 3rd day of my cleanse I woke up, looked in the mirror and I looked like myself again. I’m naturally a slender person, but we all have those little things that we notice when we look in the mirror. It was such a good feeling to see the bloat and the excess melt away. And the icing on the cake, where my skin had been dry and itchy was now clear. What I like about the effort that went into completing the cleanse (because believe me, I would have loved an evening veg on the couch with a large pizza and a movie) I know this is just a kickstart, not the final result. My hope is this will be my clean slate, so when I do go back to solid foods tomorrow, I won’t want to make choices that will negate my hard work. Not in an extreme way, just in a ‘I’ll eat 1 slice of pizza instead of the whole thing’ type of deal.
5. Pampering with a facial, a rejuvenating soak and mani/pedi
I figured if I was going to get the garbage out of my body, I wanted to get it off of my face! This was well worth it. Followed by a relaxing bath using the soaps from my care package and later a mani/pedi with a girlfriend. I felt like a whole new woman. I do think these little luxuries really add up. I see it as investing in myself, as to say to my body “hey gorgeous, I value you”.
6. Reading in the morning and at night
I love my reading rituals, but they tend to be the first things to go when I get busy. I started reading my devotionals in the morning and a novel at night. What I like about the morning devotional is that it awakens my spirit and grounds me in my faith which gives me the confidence to take on the day. And at night, there’s nothing like crawling in bed with my kindle and winding down for the evening.
Devotional I’m reading: Jesus Calling and One Minute Devotions for Women
Novel I’m reading: Where’d You Go Bernadette?
