Busy? Stressed? Overwhelmed?

Jeanne- CE!

I say this to myself as much as to anyone else, because it is hard to live well and BE well in our complicated lives! When life is tough, it is exponentially more difficult to focus on wellness, but is even more important to do so, though in some situations is impossible. Still, there are at least tiny baby steps that can serve as a temporary lifeline. I understand; I have an extremely difficult family of origin, and you probably do too. But the fact remains lack of proper self (not selfish) care is our body's open invitation to dis-ease and injury.

I am super passionate about this because I've seen this formula play out throughout my family of origin, in ways that almost always could have been avoided or greatly reduced with proper self care; in fact presently with my own sister, who is morbidly obese and stressed beyond the max.

Our bodies may do something crazy, fail in some unforseen way, or take on a situation that cannot be prevented no matter what we do, but there is great peace in following through with the due diligence to do what can be done, and only then let it go. This is hard work, but well within our capabilities. We are each worth it!

Peggy 🎈 Replied:

Amen, Sister! It takes me back to the Airplane illustration. "You put the oxygen mask on first. Then you can tend to others around you - your kids, spouse and parents all fall into this category." If we do not take care of ourselves we will breakdown trying to take care of others.

Lyn❤️💛💚💙💜 Replied:

Yes, I really am a better person when I take time for self care. I am watching myself devolve a bit at the moment because I am in a mad rush to get our old house empty and ready to sell and with movers and carpet cleaners and painting and cleaning there is quite literally no time for anything else. But I know this is a temporary state of being and soon it will all be over. At which point I will grab my oxygen mask and take care of myself for a while.

Jeanne- CE! Replied:

Devolve--what a great word; I shall use it from this day forward! I hope you have lots of help.

Jenn J Replied:

I find myself working hard to keep personal boundaries safe.

My honey and I will be making a private (just us) commitment to each other over Labor day weekend. My fathers birthday is Sept. 6th, so it feels right to take that weekend. My oldest son is leaving the Navy and should be home next month. My step daughters father has had a stroke and may never work again. My mother is struggling now that my dad is gone. She relies on me to order her care items from Amazon and get them delivered. I signed a 1 year lease on my house so I need to start decluttering, down sizing and cleaning sooner rather than wait for the last month.

With all this going on, I find myself hiding away from my responsibilities by playing games on my tablet, or watching videos. My way of dealing with stress is to try to avoid it. I know this is neither healthy nor realistic.

I really don't like change, yet this year has been nothing but changes so far. Oh, and my work is talking about having us return to the office soon. I really don't want to go.

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