It was a simple training day today at work. We were going over company policies, programs, protocol while also doing some indirect team-building.
I was asked to give a short "something" about self care and when I told my partner (boyfriend) of nearly two years this, he laughed out loud. Humpf. He was laughing at the irony of me teaching a class on Self Care. The nerve. However, he has a point. I am not great at it. Self care is a moving target and sometimes I can't seem to catch up with it. Maybe next week I will get to that stuff. Meanwhile, there are important things to take care of. Or are there?
Case in point, last week when I came down with a cold and instead of cancelling THIS, I went anyway and then pranced around SF for a couple days, turning in my first paper for the semester from my hotel room while coughing and taking both Albuterol and Alka Seltzer Plus cold to function properly.
Needless to say, right after our training day today, I hopped over to the clinic where my practitioner told me, "You have another sinus infection." I knew I needed an antibiotic because the medicine I had been taking wasn't doing anything anymore. I was still weak, shaky and cloudy-brained.
I asked him what I could do to stop showing up in his office with this same story. He works in a clinic and he sees all kinds so I figure by default he must be some kind of Allopathic ninja. Surely he has some secret he can tell me, something revolutionary that will change how I operate. He shrugs and says, "Some people are more prone to these things but eating right and exercising and taking good care of yourself can't hurt."
So self care. It is the image of the flight attendant telling you to put the oxygen mask on oneself before putting it on your kid. It is knowing you can't transmit something you haven't got. The irony of my teaching this self care section of the staff training today was to highlight my own weak spots and in so doing, letting me revisit how they can be strengthened.
Self care seems like it might be selfish but it is the selfish one who runs themselves ragged because they are of no use to others. Hopefully with this public announcement (humiliation) I will begin to change my ways. I will keep you posted.
Well I have heard that "to teach is to know." So now that you are teaching self care you will continue to enhance your very own...otherwise you are just going to be living a lie. (just kidding) Isn't it funny how sometimes the irony that we experience hits us over the head like a tone of bricks or in your case hits you like a head cold/sinus infection.
ReplyDeleteHey you got your paper in, had a great time in the city and your are now on the mend. Sounds like some self care is in there somewhere. Get some rest!
Thanks, Levi. I appreciate the reminder not to be living a lie. It's a goal of mine, really. To not live lies. I am resting and I would just like to give a little shout out to the miracles of antibiotics.
DeleteI feel I often get caught up in this same scenario. I preach and teach people to do things for themselves but when it comes to me I put it off. I even have a gym membership and like to work out for self care and I think my car is possessed and likes to drive me back home after work. After putting it into writing there is a certain level of commitment to your cause of self care ...so keep us posted! Hope your feeling better!
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteSelf care or not, you are my hero! I love how real and humble you are about it. I can also relate to trying to do it all! I know the past few weeks have been like that for me and it's about time I do some self care as well. I keep thinking when I get caught up in "life", I will finally have the time to do something for me. I hope that you are feeling 100% soon my friend!
I like your story about asking the doctor what you could do not to keep showing up in his office with the same problem. It reminds me a little bit of my countless questions I ask that I already know deep down inside the answer to, but I'm searching for an easier, softer way. (If you know what I mean). I am always looking for that incredible revolutionary thing that will instantly change my world, when I know that the things that have changed my life for the better are simple, basic things that I mostly already know, and have come from patience, hard work, and doing what I know is right.
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