Tag: self care

Saturday Speculations

Sunkissedsoul

Saturday Speculations…

1) I will keep your secrets well but I will not be your secret. Big difference.

2) I wondered if I could turn my king-size bed around by myself. Turns out that I can’t.

3) Why can’t I just hop in my car and go give hugs to everybody? Oh yes… Covid.

4) Just like I began this exercise program today, I am also beginning intense study for that big test I have to take in March. I don’t wanna. On either one. But I’m gonna. Covid has given me an opportunity to focus on what I need to focus on at home, I guess that’s some light in the dark.

5) I have come to the conclusion that I definitely want a romantic, reciprocal, respectful relationship. Nothing less is going to work. If that means I’m going to say single, then I’m going to stay single. My life is full, I am loved and I love and I have many passions. Still… I would love that relationship in it’s time. i’m not going to carry guilt for wanting that in my life.

6) Oh how I worry about my beautiful children. They amaze me with their insight, compassion, and wisdom. That said… This world is hard and I will always wonder if we have prepared them well.

7) I miss my nieces and my nephews and my great nieces and my great nephews and my mama and my sisters and my brother and my friends. So so much.

😎 Have you ever thought how very cool it was to hear birds chirping and singing melodies to us all day long? I wonder if my “song” makes a difference.

9) I’m very curious that when I try to type the number that comes in between the seven and the nine, I get 😎 instead? I can say 8 but if I try to do it with a )…then 😎 pops up. 😂

10) I’m going to do a lot of stuff today. Tomorrow I’m going to see my mom from a social distance with a mask! This will be a great day and I have much to look forward to! (Positive self talk is our friend!😂😂😂)

11) I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE ELSES HAPPINESS. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE ELSES CHOICES. SAY IT AGAIN SARAH! Somehow it is far easier to say that to someone else then apply it to myself.

12) my work out today was hard, that’s OK, I can do hard things. I’m amazed at how quickly I can and condition myself and recondition myself to exercise and I have to keep that in mind. Mind games for sure.

13) I love being a woman and also, I need new lipstick!

14) This week was a tough one. Must mean growth… I hope. I sure wish that doing the right thing meant the easy thing.

15). So grateful for my fur babies . How does anybody make it through life not loving them?

Happy Saturday loves!

Ps. I like taking selfie’s. It’s fun to look back, see them, and remember where I was in life. I’ve grown exponentially and I’m proud of me.

Now…have an awesome day!

Beckoning Peace

Sunkissedsoul

It’s weird…I feel like my spirit has sought deep peace for so long. I’m learning that I often prevent myself from that deep peace with my own patterns and behaviors. I actively push the peace I feel away by creating inner chaos. That’s kinda icky to consider.

Trying to just breathe. Holding on to hope for myself and for whomever else I have in my heart (a whole lot of people).

For the first time ever, I left an automated voicemail and email response for my clients at work. They survived before me and they will survive without me until Monday. God has had them the whole time and still does. I was just telling someone, boundaries are easy for me to set and super challenging for me to follow. This is a good practice that I need to get comfortable with.

I usually like to go visit my Vintage Housing sights on Christmas afternoon…that’s not an option this year. That said, I will be calling a few of them over the weekend to check in bc I truly adore them and holidays can be so hard! Reach out to someone if you can, you matter more than you know.

Stella commented that I am working all of the time. It’s because there are SO MANY people in need. However, wisdom says that I must take care of me to take care of others. This weekend belong to my family, my friends, to me and to Jesus. That’s it.

I’ve been pondering so much since dear friend wrote about the winter solstice. Time to set my intentions and consider my word for 2021. Time to pray for so many and for myself too. Time for quiet and peace in my heart.

If you are hurting or lonely please reach out to someone.

If you just want to treat yourself to something, no matter how you feel; have some eggnog or hot chocolate with brandy. You are welcome. Or just have the eggnog or hot chocolate (with gooey marshmallows). You are still welcome.

Happiest Christmas to all. Happy Weekend after Winter Solstice (if that wasn’t a thing, I just made it one).

God bless and much love.

Bless my ta-ta’s…and yours too.

Sunkissedsoul

In the interest of ta-ta self care, I got a mammogram today.  Once a year fun…women unite…get your boobies checked!

I chose to wear a blouse…you know…even though legally I could’ve chosen otherwise. (because our state just declared that I am welcome to go topless anywhere if I so choose).

I didn’t wear deodorant there because we are directed to not wear deodorant to a mammogram.

Good news. The clinic supplies you with antiperspirant spray to use after the mammogram.

Bad news…that spray is sticky and smells less than lovely.

When you take your top off, you get amazing little booby band aids very strategically placed.

Good news…little flowery band aids create fun little nipple art.

Bad news…they really stick to skin and are a little hard to peel off.

The mammogram machine now takes a 3D image.

Good news…a 3D image shows more stuff.

Bad news…this machine didn’t find a way to not stretch and squish tender skin to ten buck two without the ouchie factor!

And we will end on good news…I am here to tell about it! lol

 

Why do we call them ta-ta’s anyway?

Growing up

Sunkissedsoul

I have this gut feeling that some intensely real part of me has been hibernating for years and like a baby bear coming out of a dark cave,  it’s beginning to awaken.  2019 will be my last year of grad school.  Working full time, momming, daughtering, schooling, working, interning….blah, blah, blah.  It’s going to be a whirlwind of a year!  I am amazed when I look back and see how far I’ve come (and I am overwhelmed when I see how far I have to go!)  

We humans are ever-evolving, exploring creatures.  I am in awe of our capacity for resilience and growth.  That capacity gives me hope for us all.  It especially gives me hope for myself because I dream of the day I am all grown up in the ways that matter.

Here’s what I am trying to grasp about being a grown up:

  1. Truly, other people’s opinions of me are none of my business.  I spend a great deal of energy trying to ensure that other people are happy and content.  Sometimes, I catch myself putting more energy into their well-being than they do.  Guess who pays the highest price?  
  2. Self-compassion and self-care isn’t all about bubble baths, long walks, journaling and time for me.  It also looks like the icky stuff; hard conversations that need to be had, sticking to a budget, asking for help, making the choices that don’t feel good in the moment but have a tremendous pay-off later.  That stuff counts for loving myself well too.
  3. Structure and routine are not dirty words.  I have to learn this somehow.  I hate being put in anyone’s box, including my own and find myself easily resisting what is best for me because of that.
  4. I am a grown up woman, I was made a sexual being, and that is okay.  Actually, it’s far better than okay, it is magnificently wonderful.  Labels, shame, guilt and not allowing myself to be who I was made to be is nonsense.  
  5. There are people who have wiped my tears away in the most gentle and intimate manner.  There are others who squirm away from emotion because it is uncomfortable for them.  On the lines of people….some will see my scars as beautiful as they kiss them lovingly and see the miracle of life.  Some will see those same scars as a marring of my physical body and they might say less than stellar things.  Some will see my stretch marks and mom tummy as unattractive and displeasing; some will see these things as real and soft and safe.  Some people might not see them at all.  Guess what?  Their thoughts ALWAYS have more to do with them and often nothing to do with me.  That’s a hard one to swallow when one is a master at ugly self talk, but this is truth. 
  6. My God loves me deeper, wider, bigger than I could ever imagine. I have atheist friends who think my God is a made up guy in the sky to serve no purpose but being a crutch.  I have friends who have what I consider to be rigid beliefs, as well as everyone in between.  I love them all and I hope they love me too.  We are all searching and searching is key.  Whether your answer is in logic or faith or anywhere else, it’s your journey.  This is my journey.  
  7. ALL of the stuff ALL of the stuff ALL of the stuff is made to take us to a higher level.  Someday I will learn to surrender to that, trust myself, trust my God and trust the process.  Until then, I’ll keep doing my best.  Mostly.  Sometimes I will screw up in the biggest of ways.
  8. Love Wins.  Every freaking time.  Unless we choose hate.  Ick.
  9. It’s the small things that are really biggest in life.  Some of my favorite small things…When my Momma is proud of me (I know, I’m 46, but still, she’s my Mom!), when my kids surprise me with an unexpected hug, sunsets and sunrises, feeling the breeze on my bare skin, sweet kisses, coffee, yummy smells (of course)….
  10. Gratitude brightens even the darkest, dreariest days.  Drop the mask, feel what you feel…but keep the gratitude going.
  11. Be kind, gracious, loving, tender, merciful and forgiving.  At the same time, remember that boundaries are a beautiful thing and that boundaries and walls are not the same, ever.
  12. I will be unapologetically, unequivocally  me, even when it makes me squirm.  Especially when it makes me squirm.  Simply because I am uniquely, beautifully made and there is only one of me.  I love that quote, “Be you, everyone else is already taken.”  That’s so right!

The magic is in the mercy.  The gift is in the grace.  Over and over and over I fail.  Over and over and over I receive these compassions.  I am surrounded with grace giving, magic mercy making,  lovers of my heart and I am intensely blessed.

Compilation

Sunkissedsoul
  1. So much going on and it all eventually becomes just another life compilation.   My precious sky blue eyed son turns 16 today.  SIXTEEN!  This means that I will be 45 just a day over a week and my beautiful daughter is 6 months away from being a teenager.  I can barely fathom how fast time truly does fly. 11, 12, 14, 15, 43 and 44  have  been sorta hard on all of us, respectively speaking.

I’m not looking for easy, I’m too much of a realist for that.  I am hopeful that the deep inventory I continue to take of myself is not a futile effort and that there is great goodness in what I find.  I am still searching for freedom from the things that bind my heart…there are many.  I am yearning for the things that make my tummy have the best kinds of butterflies, there are several of those things too.

There was a time that I walked every single day.  My goal was to reach 100 days straight of walking at least 10 minutes a day.  Most days I walked 45 minutes to an hour.  Then, at 91 days of walking…I sprained my ankle and couldn’t bear any weight on my foot.

Looking back, I can’t believe I stuck with a form of exercise that long.  I am a wiggle worm, I have a hard time sitting still.  I normally hate exercise but somehow in that process, I had learned to cherish my daily walk.  I spent the time talking with God and at the end of my walk, I’d lay in the grass and listen to worship music and ask God (again and again and again) to help me surrender everything to him.  This small act made the biggest impact in the way I lived my life and in the peace I had in my heart.  It wasn’t that life was easy, it was that I took time for myself; time to ‘be’ with God and just time to be.

This is definitely missing from my life.  I avoid connecting with myself.  I run from God.  I sure as heck don’t take time to just ‘be’ and care for myself.  I have read countless studies about the effects of long term low stress levels. Weight gain, lack of motivation, trouble sleeping, etc, etc, etc.  Name a side effect and I have experienced it at one time or another.  I am amazed at me.  It’s comparable to my ability to handle 32 crazy kids in a classroom while I struggle with my perfectly imperfect 2.  I can counsel people all day on the significance of self-care.  Preaching to the choir!

I touched on this when I last wrote, I believe that somewhere along the line I quietly decided that I wasn’t worth it.  That’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to my kiddos.  They need to know their Momma is a beautifully confident, capable and compassionate woman who  is doing her best to raise beautifully confident,  capable compassionate kids.

I’m beginning with what I have and where I can. I took a 30 minute walk yesterday.  My phone died immediately after my feet hit the pavement.  That irritated me and I nearly went back to charge it.  I had wanted to make a phone call or listen to something.  I had a dear friend (maybe more than one at times) tell me that I was so stubborn and sometimes needed a figurative smack in the head to listen.

Ouch!  I know why I haven’t been walking and it’s not because I am lazy.  While I might say that I desire that time with God and to care for myself, I truly do not.  I just stated that I’ve been running from God and can’t stand to be alone with my own thoughts.  This is truth.  I would rather read, talk, play candy crush, do dishes, eat, drive….anything that keeps me from being alone with my thoughts.  Sometimes, when I am still, the tears still come.  I’m tired of the tears.  So I run in various ways.  I’m beginning to see what a self destructive pattern this is.

I walked.  I noticed six beautiful geese and I wondered if they were partnered.  (you know…because they mate for life).  They were in close proximity but not right next to one another.  However, when a car drove by or there was a noise, they would immediately pair off with their mate.  It was the coolest sight to observe and I doubt I would’ve taken time to notice God’s intricate design among the geese had I been on the phone.  Ironically, I was able to turn my phone on long enough to snap a few pictures of my feathered friends.  No accidents, ever.

Tonight, I will walk again.  Not because I have to but because I can.  I am on a journey of learning to love myself.  It’s not all bad but I’m honest enough to express that much of it really sucks.  I’m taking some scary steps, pretty consistently stretching out of my comfort zone…because that is where life begins, right?  I’m ready life!  Oh, what’s that?  You say you’ve already begun.  Oh dear!  I better start living!