Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Self-care??

There are women out there in the world
who make it look easy.
Some of them have twice as many kids
as I have, and the photos I see online and in magazines
look like they have a team of tiny fairies flittering
around their homes all day picking up stray socks,
dog fur clumps, dust bunnies, and dropped cheerios.

I am not that woman.

I currently have socks on my coffee table
because I probably picked them up off of the carpet and 
then laid them down when I picked up 
something else.

I have not vacuumed today 
(and we have 7 kids and a giant furry beast of a dog).

I have unfolded laundry curing in my rocking chair
more in the washer and dryer and still more waiting to get washed.

I didn't bother to make my bed this morning.
Or most any other morning.
Because, seriously...
who is going to see it??
(Hi, Mom... sorry. But it's true.)

So, when my friend Jamey gave me a blog topic
of "self-care"
("You know, how you take care of yourself so you don't burn out")
I thought she might be losing her mind.

Take care of myself???
Seriously??

Ha.

There was this one day that I thought I was going to be all
organized and stuff...
so I made myself a "to-do" list.
Vacuum
Dishes
Take boxes to garage
put summer clothes in attic
change sheets on beds
fold laundry
put laundry away
shower
clean hallway chalkboard
declutter toys in playroom
bring potted plants inside

And do you see the problem??
Other than the dead plant on my porch...
I didn't get to cross of "shower" on my list.

So my sarcastic genius friend Jamey tells me
to write a post about my PLAN for self-care then.

Ah HA!
Another to-do list.
Since I am clearly in need of such a plan...
FINE.
I'll give it a go.

Honestly, it is HARD to think about taking care of
yourself when you have 7 kids, a husband and a dog.
It's hard to carve out a few minutes to do something
that puts energy back into ME because I know there is 
the ever growing list of things everyone ELSE needs.
The laundry that never ends...
The dishes that multiply like caged rabbits...
The homework...
The floors...
The toys...
The piles of books, paper, magazines, catalogs..
The THINGS that everyone leaves all over the place...

Those things all sabotage any plans I have of taking care of ME.

What this leads to is...
bitterness,
discontentment,
anger,
frustration,
self-pity
and 
irritability.

Who likes those things?
Not me.

SO.
A plan.

A realistic plan.

I'm thinking that for starters:
  • I will eat breakfast before 9am.
  • I will take my vitamins regularly (working towards every day).
  • I will get dressed with shoes on and be prepared for whatever comes up.
  • I will use nap time wisely (shower, relaxing project, etc) and to my advantage.
  • I will plan menus since meals are a constant stress on my brain.
  • I will make chore lists for the kids and stop feeling bitter about them not helping with things I have not asked them for help with. I know they don't pick up anything unless told, so I need to just write it down and stop feeling frustrated.
I know...
It's no major breakthrough...
but I think it will help.

No promises, but I MIGHT decide to make my bed, too.

5 comments:

  1. I'm convinced those women only take pictures of the clean parts of their homes.

    Here, read this: http://megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever/2010/12/i-want-you-to-know.html

    It's one of my favorite blogs. :)

    Oh, and I don't remember the last time I took a shower and I only have 1 baby. Sunday? Monday? I know for sure I took one last Friday. SURELY, I've had another since then. Maybe I should prioritize that today?

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  2. Update: I showered.
    Confession: I don't love showering. I like being in there, but I hate getting out, hate being wet and cold, hate having to find something to wear, etc.

    I'm sure Ben will appreciate the clean me though.

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  3. Melissa - congrats! I took a bath and shaved my legs! Woohoo! I think the trick is to take a hotter than normal shower/bath, then you are so overheated you don't mind the cold when you get out. That's my theory of the day anyway! And I love that blog post! I bookmarked it for when I am feeling guilty! :)

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  4. I do that, too! (Make the shower extra hot so that it feels good to get out.) Ben thinks I'm crazy.

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