Five days ago I was inspired to challenge myself to 10 days of self care, with the hopes to start setting myself up for a good pattern of self care for the new school year. I really just intended to share it in blog posts to normalize self care looking different than fancy spa activities. Now it has turned into so far 4 days of self reflection around self care and it’s been an interesting experience!
Today’s self care ended up being around productivity again, as I started my day reading and then intended on doing 3 charts just to catch me up a bit…. And I ended up working on a BUNCH of passion projects. I started organizing my resource files in my computer, put together a quite elaborate baby sign language book for my staff, planned a session and started writing my children’s book! I know these sound like a lot of work, which it definitely was, but I really enjoyed getting my ideas sorted out and written down.
I read a book recently that was like a journal by an autistic person, and one of the things they talked about was feeling better being able to write things down to empty her brain a bit! I think this was definitely a big part of my self care today as I was able to create some organization in my brain which has been in chaos for a while. I think when I get home I’m going to start writing my thoughts down like this author. I was never a fan of journaling but I think it was because I used to imagine I needed to write “dear diary” and write to someone. Perhaps the self care I need is to just jot down thoughts, doodle, and arts and crafts my way through a journal! And maybe this will inspire more blogs, more Instagram posts on my “OT” account, and actually publishing my book!
I’m really enjoying exploring my self care habits by intentionally focusing on myself these days, and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can keep this up when I return to work on Monday!
Ideas for tomorrow:
The sun should be up tomorrow so I’m hoping to spend some time outside! But also, our car battery is dead (we think) so we’re going to have to go to the mechanic to get a battery for it. This is not a huge deal, but in advance of tomorrow I’m planning that my self care is going to be grace and compassion for myself when plans change.
If you could do anything today to feel happy, supported and loved, what would you do? Now can you try doing something like that today?
Be Your Own Sunshine 