I’m home today with a surprise fever baby (boo!), but before we head into the holiday weekend I wanted to give you an update on my December daily album. It’s coming along! This is from last week, and I will do one more update after Christmas.
Have a great weekend everyone! I, unfortunately, am so not prepared for Christmas yet. I still have a bunch of cleaning, shopping, and wrapping to do. Good thing I don’t mind the hustle and bustle. :)
Time // 12:30 p.m.
Place // on break at work
Eating // a cheese ball and crackers, cupcake, random other snacks that patients have brought us, chicken parmesan for lunch provided by a drug rep
Drinking // water
Watching // carolers pass through the clinic and getting that warm fuzzy feeling
Reading // The Passage by Justin Cronin for book club; still in the middle of Moby-Dick too
Wanting // a color printer at home
Thinking // about all the goals and plans I want to make for the new year
Creating // December daily pages
Hoping // that Meredith starts sleeping later in the mornings instead of waking up with me at 4:30
Needing // to finish Christmas shopping, more quick weeknight meal ideas
Anticipating // hosting Christmas at our house, a fresh paper planner for 2013
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It’s been a very normal, very good week at our house. Early mornings, decent work days, family dinner every night (I don’t think this has ever happened and I am so proud and excited to make it a habit), some Christmas shenanigans, early bedtimes, and lots of sleep.
This weekend I’m going shopping with my dad (an annual tradition since I was 13 years old), visiting my uncle, attending a work party and book club, and hopefully fitting in some down time.
***
My sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the families involved in the school shooting in Connecticut. But this is the kind of thing that I absolutely cannot allow myself to think about because I will lose my cool and become controlled by anxiety. Looking forward to the day when there will be no more crying or pain or sin or death.
So after I wrote this post last week about how far my reality falls from my ideal in the area of self-care, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My original intention was to incorporate these things into my monthly goals for next year, but I was inspired so I decided to do something about it right away.
Most of the changes I needed to make were small and all I really needed to do was get them incorporated into my routine. To that end, I made myself a self-care resolutions chart.
Right now I have it hung on a clipboard that’s on our refrigerator, and I glace at it a few times a day to make sure I’m not forgetting anything. I put check marks where I’ve completed a task and x’s when I don’t. I know I won’t have to keep using this forever, but until it becomes habit I am very motivated to fill it out.
There are three things on the list that are big changes. Daily Bible study, family dinner, and exercise. So far I have made the first two happen (although it’s only been half a week). In order to have some spiritual alone time I’ve had to move my wake-up time back thirty minutes. It’s tough to wake up at 4:30 but I go to bed super early so I don’t notice the difference after I’ve had my coffee, and it’s a much better way to start the day. (More about this soon.)
As for family dinner, it’s really just a matter of planning ahead. Over the weekend I picked out four meals that are extremely quick and easy to make and we did the grocery shopping. If I leave work on time I get home anywhere from 5 to 5:30 and I’m cooking by 6, we eat by 6:30. If a meal takes longer than thirty minutes to make it has to get saved for the weekend because it’s just not happening after work.
The last big change is exercise, and truly right now I’m stumped as to how on earth I’m going to make this a regular thing. I already wake up at 4:30, and after dinner it’s time to shower and get ready for bed. I go to sleep at the same time as Meredith which is around 8 or 8:30. I could do some kind of workout on the weekend, but once a week isn’t optimal (although I know it’s better than nothing). It’s sad but this might have to be saved for when I’m at a different point in my life.
Anyway, the resolutions chart has been working for me so I wanted to make it available to you if you think it’s something you could use. Find it here on Google Docs, then just save a copy and edit away. I don’t have a reward system in place at the moment (nerd alert: the feeling of accomplishment & how much better I feel about myself is reward enough for me) but you could totally do that.
Note: I have a post coming about how I use essential oils for health. Also note that I am not currently eating all that healthy but I haven’t mentally worked up to that change yet so it’s still to come. :)
After one week of this project I can very surely say that although I love the idea of a holiday minibook, I will not be doing this as a daily project next year. Not because I can’t keep up with it – I kept the format simple for that reason and it hasn’t been difficult – but because I just don’t have something holiday-related to document every day.
Truth be told, most weekdays it’s all about work, trying to get home before Meredith’s witching hour, and surviving until the next day. So next year I’ll just do a holiday minibook, not a daily album. That said, I know I will be happy to have this one! Here are my pages so far.
It’s really simple (and kind of boring, but oh well). Notice that a couple of days I don’t even have a photo, because I was too busy or there was nothing noteworthy. On those days I just stamped a random pattern on the cardstock. Also, I originally bought a set of brightly colored red- and green-patterned washi tape to use, but I just didn’t like it in here so I ended up using what I already owned. I guess I’m just not a bright color person, but hopefully I’ll find something to use it on.
Enjoy your week!
In general I consider myself a healthy person, but every day I think about all the things I should be doing to take care of myself and then I knowingly fail to do them. So even though I’m still healthy, I’m not actively pursuing health. Let’s have a couple of lists to illustrate.
1. Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night
2. Brush my teeth in the morning and at night
3. Floss daily
4. Morning and evening facial skin care regimen including cleanser, toner, moisturizer, & eye cream
5. Weekly facial exfoliation
6. Body moisturizer daily
7. Extra sunscreen daily
8. Drink a bunch of water every day
9. Take calcium twice a day and multivitamin once a day
10. Apply essential oils daily and use extra when I feel sick
11. Eat healthy – less sweets, less carbs, more vegetables & fruit
12. Eat way less meat
13. Exercise at least three times a week
14. Wake up early enough to have 10-15 minutes of spiritual time
15. Use all natural personal care products
1. Get 9-10 hours of sleep each night (I’m good at sleep)
2. Brush my teeth every night and a few times a week in the morning when I remember
3. Get psyched up to start flossing daily a few times a year and make it less than a week before giving up
4. Wash and moisturize my face during/after I shower, which is about every other day, and frequently sleep with makeup on
5. Monthly(?) facial exfoliation
6. Moisturize my arms and legs after I shower on the weekends
7. Rely on the sunscreen in my mineral powder foundation
8. Drink hardly any water, don’t drink anything else either though
9. Take calcium once a week when I remember, forget that I should be taking a multivitamin
10. Apply essential oils randomly
11. Eat whatever I want
12. See above
13. Never exercise
14. Wake up just in time to get ready and get out the door
15. Use mostly all natural personal care products
So yeah…that’s kind of embarrassing. But as I head into the new year and think about goals (one of my favorite things to think about) this stuff will definitely be up for consideration.
What’s on your ideal self-care list? Tell me, so I can make my goals even loftier.