Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I don't take care of *me* I can't take care of my son

I just responded to a comment left last week, and I was surprised to see that my last post was back in March.

It shouldn't have been a surprise, though, because I've been traveling a lot for my new job and that takes a LOT of energy out of me. I replied to that commenter "I have much higher travel commitment than I'm used to. That's part of why I don't post here or on fb as much as I used to- I just don't have the energy to post anything other than pity parties lately, and that's not helpful for anyone, lol!"

What is helpful for anyone reading this is that I am not beating myself up about not doing all that I would like to. And I hope that if you are having to trim your life of some things (whether permanently or temporarily) that you are gentle and loving with yourself about it.

I've accepted the fact that I only have so much energy, and I have to pick and choose where it goes: God, taking care of me, taking care of my son, my job. Yep, in that order- yes, I know some mammas will take issue with me putting myself before my son, but I've realized if I don't take care of *me* I will be unable to take care of my son. This may not hold true for other, more capagle, more energetic, more NT (lol) mammas out there.

What does taking care of *me* look like?

Gotta make sure I eat right, which means allowing time to both cook AND clean up later
Gotta exercise (ugh, but it helps my mood and my waistline)
Gotta get enough sleep (yes, I'm going to bed in 5 minutes!)
Gotta make sure I have a clean house and clothes (because if I let the clutter build up, then it overwhelms and paralyzes me and takes WAY MORE effort to clean than if I just attacked it a little bit each day)
And finally, I must budget adequate time for proper grooming, which improves the way other people treat me as well as the way I feel about myself.

1 comment:

PDDMomofJazzy said...

Hi there,

I read your blog from time to time (I'm PDDNOS), and you do bring up interesting points especially about taking care of yourself first so that your child would reap benefits from that.

I do believe that is true, I focus a lot on my kid, and have told people around me that I'd rather focus my attention on her needs than on myself. I do neglect myself from time to time, okay, I do neglect myself a lot. I justify it by thinking she comes first, but in the end, if I'm a mess, she'll be a mess. I'm learning the hard way now.

You said:

"And finally, I must budget adequate time for proper grooming, which improves the way other people treat me as well as the way I feel about myself."

Another hard lesson because I'm certainly not helping myself but neglecting my looks when there are communication problems, etc. For the life of me, I still cannot understand why appearance is so important. I'm slowly learning that it is just one of those things in life I will never understand but has to be done.

Sorry if my grammar is out of whack, I'm sleepy right now. Be blessed.