Category: work

coffee, family, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, journaling, lists, Mindful, Mindfulness, to-do, work

The Importance of Self Care

Olof

I’d like to take today to talk about the importance of self care no matter what your profession is but especially when you are in a care taking job. Whether you are in the health care field, a mother, or taking care of aging parents people get depleted pretty quickly. It is difficult to keep giving and giving but a lot of people misunderstand what self care really looks like. It isn’t always a massage and a mani/pedi. Self care can be as little as just taking 15 min in the morning and reflecting on what your day will look like and remembering to acknowledge the things you can be thankful for that day. Morning journaling can go a long way in putting your mind in the mind set of getting things done and prepping for what is to come that day. Drinking your favorite warm beverage or juice while doing this can help set the mood for a wonderful day. It is just a short check in with yourself. Your feelings and your body.

Most western countries have the bad habit of hitting the ground running as soon as the alarm goes off. Believe me I make this mistake too. Especially while I was working full time. But I always tried once I got to work to make myself a cup of coffee, look over my calendar, and envision what my day will look like. What tasks I had left over from the day before and what I needed to do that day. Now as a stay at home I go over all the different tasks that I have to do to keep this family functioning.

Morning Journal is my favorite and least expensive self care technique. There are plenty of other ways.

  • Exercising (especially walking and Yoga)
  • Meditation (even if it is only checking in with your body for 5 min and using mindful breathing)
  • Coloring or drawing (art lets the part of the brain that does not have words express itself)
  • A mindful shower (where you are mindful of your body and are thankful for all it does for you)
  • Mindful cleaning (Remembering to only hold on to the things that have function and you love and get rid of the rest so it does not clutter your home or your mind)
  • Aroma therapy (essential oils can make a huge difference in mood and feeling)
  • Mindful eating (enjoy each bite of your food and check in with how it makes your body feel)
  • Chatting with a friend (make sure that this friend is a friend that helps you feel better and does not drain you of your energy) 
  • Gardening
  • Knitting (or whatever your favorite hobby is)
What is your favorite self care technique? How do you like to start or end your day?
family, flowers, gardening, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, kids, work

My Neglected Home, Garden and Hobbie.

Olof
Hello readers,

The rose bush in the back yard

As I walked through my garden and sighed last weekend I noticed my neglected home and all the things in it. I’ve been so busy becoming a professional that I had closed my eyes to the place I call home. How sad things have gotten around here. But when I started looking around my wild garden and over grown flowerbeds I still saw the beauty that I had put there long ago it was just hard to see for the weeds.

Flowers bloom in my flowerbeds, asparagus sprouts in my overgrown garden, the fruit tree bares fruit and my grass is so soft between my toes.

Inside my home it is harder to see as the clutter has taken over every surface and every space. I have been struggling this pregnancy to just keep up with the basics that keeping up with the clutter has escaped me. When I see this I think that my choice to quit working next month was a good one because my family deserves better. This I find disrespectful to both myself and my family for letting things get to this point. I am not ready to work outside the home yet since I seem to not be able to keep house and work with 2 kids, 4 years and younger, with the 3rd on the way.

My ever expanding belly.

Iris blooming in the back yard

Bush cherries!

Fruit tree fruiting. I believe it is peaches.

Asparagus

My sad veggie garden just weeds now

My birthday boy enjoying his birthday present
The tree I planted the fall before last and the flowers I planted last year.

Rose bushes in the front yard

Flowers I bought last fall but didn´t get planted until this spring.

O looking out the front storm door.

M enjoying some juice.

So here is my promise to me and my readers, one step at a time I will start blogging more again, knitting more, make my home the home I deserve to live in and my family can grow and develop in.

I want to thank all of the readers out there that have stuck with my blog for so long. Soon the knitting will be shown and the progress will be made.

Tell me, those of you that work and keep house, how do you manage it all?