Meeting Commitment with Self Care.

Oh, hello! I’m so sorry I’ve been pretty MIA lately. Life and work have been a little nuts and the madness threw me off my game.

That’s actually why I wanted to write this post, to be honest. I feel like my schedule has gotten a little out of hand (as everyone’s can from time to time) and instead of listening to my mind and body, I’ve focused on fulfilling a billion commitments. If you don’t already know, I’ve always been someone who likes to be busy. I genuinely enjoy filling my time with things that make me feel like I’m progressing as a human, whether that’s physically at the gym, financially by working side hustles, or emotionally by spending time with people I love. And, while I absolutely still enjoy those things, I’m starting to realize the importance of quiet and alone time, doing things that are just for me, and making sure I’m taking care of myself.

This notion of self care has been really trendy lately, and I know it kind of sounds like some b.s., but it’s not. I’m glad it’s becoming more main-stream, and even more acceptable for us to slow things down, if that makes sense. There’s so much in our society that demands us to just go, go, go and I think social media has a lot to do with that today. We’re inundated with images of people traveling the world, going out to eat, and doing all kinds of activities. I think this is so amazing because it inspires us to go out and see the world, but I also think it makes us feel pressure to do as many of those things as we can right now. But we don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, we can do one thing today and one tomorrow, or no things today at all if that’s how we feel. And the concept of self care let’s us step back from this pressure and just chill for hot second.

I was listening to my absolute favorite podcast, Soul on Fire by The Balanced Blonde, and in her most recent episode she interviewed Mary Beth LaRue, a health and wellness expert, yogi, and entrepreneur. Jordan and Mary Beth were talking about how they’re both so busy and so productive, but that it’s important to “meet commitment with self care.” This really resonated with me, particularly this morning, because I just got back from a bachelorette party that I planned (which I had a blast at!) and have also been coming off of some really crazy weeks at work. For the past 7 days I’ve actually had some gnarly stomach issues randomly, as well, and for the life of me couldn’t figure out why. Fortunately, my stomach woes have seemingly come to an end, but it’s kind of strange because pretty much the moment I got home from our trip and the 5 and a half hour car ride back, I started to feel better. How weird is that!?

The only thing I can think of, unless my pains come back of course, is that it was anxiety. I’ve never experienced a reaction like that from stress ever before, but I think it was a sign that I need to slow things down. My dad always tells me “don’t burn yourself out, child” and even though I usually laugh it off and tell him I definitely won’t, I may have just done it.

So, that being said, I’m not entirely sure what the point of this post is, but I do know that taking care of yourself (/myself) needs to be a priority. My advice to you and my future self is to say “yes” to just one less thing, maybe leave half of a day in your planner blank, and don’t be afraid to check out of life for an hour or so every once in awhile.

Have a wonderful week 🙂

xo Jordan