I have realized I’m TERRIBLE at making myself the priority. TERRIBLE. I remember being on a Kairos with Borgia, and someone was talking about the quote by Gale Sayers, “God is first, others are second, and I am third.” And while that quote is for sure good for most people, givers and doers almost need to flip two and three.
There is an important piece that this quote is missing, and I keep reminding myself of it lately as I feel like my to-do list spirals out of control. If I don’t take care of me, I can’t give to God or others. Period. Generally, I would approach my to-do list like this: remove the things causing me the most stress. Get a bunch of work done. Then feel exhausted and unable to do anything for me.
Christmas break started today, and while writing this may be a tiny bit procrastinating in nature… I decided to make sure my to-do list had me on it first. I need to heal my soul and spirit and little bit. I have my book club Wednesday night, and I didn’t start The Midnight Library by Matt Haig until last night, so I started my day after drop up in bed with puppy snuggles, hydrating for my workout, and reading that book until 9:30 a.m. or so and then I knocked out 30 minutes on the elliptical while watching Elementary.
Since I had covid, I’ve gained weight (not much but still– anything looks like a lot when you’re short) and lost muscle. I feel SO out of shape every time I do a real workout. I’m trying hard to track this week and next week (within reason…cause Christmas and cookies) but I also want to make sure that even if I’m enjoying Christmas food I’m working out EVERY DAY. I figure if I can spend my two weeks off working out daily, then it’ll be more of a habit when school restarts.
So there it is…part of taking care of me is making writing more of a habit, as well. I’ve been thinking about time a lot and how I spend it. I’m tired of the same things being on my NY resolution list each year. So fingers crossed I can only take on projects that make my heart happy work wise and build in more time for me and the family.
