Self Care: Pressing the ESC Button

Time for a Bit of Self Care!

Today is a challenging day. On many levels. That is not to say it’s a ‘bad’ day. I find I’m just feeling a bit ‘off kilter’, low energy and thoroughly unmotivated.

I’m sure you’ve had days like that yourself, haven’t you?

‘And you’re here to give us the warm fuzzies, to help up find the joy and awesomeness of life? Lady, you’re failing miserably at the moment.’

I know. I know.

Just because a person ‘wakes up’, though, and begins living life in a more ‘conscious’ manner doesn’t mean life is suddenly and consistently filled with rainbows and roses.

I say this because I don’t want you – at some point – to say, “Hey! You lied to me. You said my life was going to get better. I don’t feel any better today than I did when we started this thing, this ‘process’ together.”

Because you very well could still have moments like that. Moments when you feel mired in the muck and mud. Heavy and so low on energy that it feels as though it takes every ounce of your strength and courage to take one more step forward.

See, everything I’m sharing and will share with you here is not meant to be a ‘quick fix’.

This is a process.

At any given time, you will be able to know how you’re doing by the amount of time it takes you to ‘bounce back’ to ‘center’.

I’ve been on this path for years now, and I still have days when I’m ‘a hot mess’, but I always end up coming back to my center point, eventually. (Heck! Even my wonderful teacher and mentor, Rev. Diannia Baty, says she has days that challenge her as well.)

This process is not about molding life into our perception of ‘perfect’. It will never happen. Rather, it is perfect as it is. We just have to come around to realizing that.

For now, the best way I’ve found to ‘combat’ the gray days is to flow with it and apply as much Self Care as I am able and in whatever bits of downtime I am afforded.

What does that look like?

It’s found in the little things. Do things for yourself that titillate the senses.

• Take a warm, cleansing bath (Add bubbles, some soft music, a glass of wine, or a book to kick it up a notch.)
• Put on some cozy pajamas as soon as you’re able
• Play some music (Every type of music has its own energy. Go for something that soothes the soul. I personally like Classical, New Age, or Jazz.)
• Make your favorite comfort food for dinner (I’ve found that such days often call for breakfast food.)
• Light some candles and/or incense (Nag Champa is a favorite of mine, and it’s said to raise the vibrational energy of a space, which is definitely helpful in this case!)
• Pull up one of your favorite movies on Netflix

Basically, extreme self care (ESC) is whatever makes you feel good, pampered, and cared for. Because, if we don’t first care for ourselves, how in the heck are we supposed to properly for all the other people that we feel we need care for?

What if it doesn’t work?

Then keep doing it until it does.

It doesn’t always work immediately.

Perhaps, you’ve developed an ‘immunity’. Only, in this instance, it’s due to not applying it often enough.

Like many pharmaceuticals, it may just need to build up in our systems over time.

In that case, do it more!

And always remember, no matter what’s going on…

This too shall pass.

And given this point in time, you have a 100% rate for surviving whatever the Universe throws at you.

You can do so again!

This time, start by pressing the ESC button!

Self Care: Pressing the ESC Button was originally published on Writing the Wild Wind, a now defunct site.