Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 12, Issue 36: Mindful Self Care

I impressed myself this past weekend when I pulled myself away from a commitment I had made to make chapati for my family's dinner that Saturday evening. I had just arrived home at almost 4pm after a long day of running errands with my daughter.

I had a baking task to wrap up and I hadn't sat down to relax in my living room at all yet. I was determined to make the chapatis but a quick calculation in my head revealed that making chapatis after wrapping up the baking task, and cleaning up thereafter would keep me on my feet in the kitchen until around 7pm.

I knew sitting down to dinner after 7pm and being done just in time for bed would absolutely rob me of any chance of relaxation before going to bed. I wasn't going to be happy knowing I had spent all Saturday working and not having had an inch of rest. So I cancelled the chapati dinner and fixed a quick dinner instead. This to me was mindful self care.

We sometimes push ourselves too far to live up to the commitments we make to ourselves and to others at work and in our personal lives. But the reality of life is that sometimes errands take longer than expected. Tasks overrun their time limits. Life sometimes costs more than we have the capacity to foot.

In the absence of mindful self care, we carry on with meeting the demands in front us instead of adjusting our plans or taking some things off out to-do lists. We can be on the go day after day, weekend after weekend without acknowledging our limits.

I don't want to run long errands every other weekend, or start working on an extensive task or meal late in the day. I want to make room to sit back and relax over the weekends. I want to be done with professional work and house work before 7pm every week day so I can have a moment to laugh with my loved ones and wind down before going to bed.

I just described my version of self care. What does self care look like to you? It's important to know this especially at this time of the year when we are supposed to be slowing done yet we can be busier than ever with holiday activities.

Be mindful of your needs for rest and wellness and practice mindful and intentional self care this holiday season. Plan ahead of time what self care will look like for you and follow through. Say "No" when you need to and stay true to yourself.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi