Self Care

Can I be honest? I hate this concept. People use it all the time and seem to imply you need to spend copious amounts of money. Or at the very least time I don’t have.
I don’t go for manicures. The last time I got my hair styled was probably 4 years ago. A simple cut is all I do. I’m low-maintenance and don’t want to feel guilty about that!
BUT!!! taking care of yourself doesn’t have to mean spending money. My wise friend said a dance mom is like the pit crew.  If the pit crew isn’t at the top of their game then nobody else is either! We’re so busy getting our dancers’ schedule organized, getting them to and from class, balancing activities for non-dancing members of the family, and making sure everyone has dinner, but are you taking the time to take care of yourself?

Here’s what I AM good about:

• getting enough sleep*
• drinking enough water (guideline is to take your weight, divide by two, and drink that many ounces of water each day.)
• getting time to myself. Reading, playing mindless apps…it means more if I use these with intention (either as a reward for getting something done that I’ve been putting off, or just in specific times and not whenever I get a spare minute)
• eating well. I know I could make even more improvements, but at this point I feel pretty good about what I’m putting into my body.

I’m not going to challenge you to do something that I don’t find necessary. BUT!!! I will challenge you to give this some thought. Is there an area of this that does need more attention? Do you get enough water? healthy food? sleep? time to yourself? Make a small challenge for yourself in whatever area needs some help (if you want to reply to this email and tell me what you’re going to work on, that will help you stay more accountable).

*It’s best if you can wake up naturally. But not everyone homeschools and has a husband who works from home, so here’s my recommendation: If you have to use an alarm to wake up, I recommend the app “SleepCycle.” It pays attention to your movement as you sleep and senses when you’re between cycles of sleep, so it wakes you up when you’re closer to waking up naturally, and not in the middle of a cycle. It makes a huge difference in how we feel when we actually do need an alarm!