“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult,
but not more difficult than remaining in a situation,
which is not nurturing to the whole woman.”
― Maya Angelou
Ever feel like a circus clown juggling too many balls in the air? Unmanaged time can feel like we are on a merry-go-round that is spinning out of control. Fatigue sets in and the chaos increases. This season of unrest can be brought on by our lack of time management, people pleasing desires, grief, new situations, and over-commitment.
But with a few small steps, there are things we can do to cope.
Care for your creative side
Get involved in a DIY (do it yourself) project. Sew Placemats, upholster a chair, paint an end table, cook from scratch, and try something new.
Care for your mental and emotional side
Form a new support group around your own superpower. If you’re excellent at couponing, form a group that’s like-minded and teach or share it.
Do something out of your comfort zone. Attend a book reading, a cooking class, a political group, animal shelter or load a new app and play it with a friend like, geocaching, scrabble, or Trivial Pursuit.
Care for your spiritual side
Join a prayer group or form one of your own. Join a support group or engage a counselor. Seek out a life coach. Try meditation of Tai Chi, or Yoga, walk, swim, hike and develop your powers of observation.
Care for your intellectual side
Take a class designed to stretch you. Take in a lecture on a topic you know nothing about but are interested in. Attend podcasts, webinars, and audio books on interesting subjects. Read a book.
TURN OFF:
FOMO- Fear of Missing Out. We’re often so afraid that we’ll miss out on something thatwe allow too many distractions. Put away the fear that you don’t already have enough and enjoy being present.
TV– I remember when there were three available channels: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Today there are over 400 channels. Although there are a few valuable shows, most of them are time wasters. If you can’t go without, record them and watch them while you do laundry, dishes or walk on the treadmill.
Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and 15 more before I end this sentence, all designed to vie for our attention. Build personal boundaries around them, limit the opportunities to slide down that endless rabbit hole stealing hours of our lives we can’t get back and may produce nothing beneficial. Limit.
Negative people and takers- Some people are only in our lives for a season, when that season passes if they aren’t a positive influence in our life, let them go.
TURN ON:
Mindful thinking. Practice being aware daily, minute by minute. Life’s opportunities arrive but we must be present and available to notice.
Positive people and their positive thinking. Glean from them how they stay positive and what they think about and focus on. Seek out people in your area of dreams, and then find those that are further along the path than you are and ask them to help you.
Healthy life choices. Give up old habits that aren’t producing forward motion for life choices. Fight for you. Then develop good choices and try to incorporate them daily. Self-care is anything we do to intentionally prioritize our health mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We can be stewards of our temple loaned to us by Christ by walking in our purpose, building our relationship with Christ by reading and praying. Self-care means that we see our health (physically and emotionally) as a gift that we must care for intentionally. When we care for ourselves, we are able to live out our purpose and care for others.
Tips for Self-Care:
*Journal
*Memorize verses.
*Write verses out on note cards.
*Pray through them.
*Find an accountability/prayer partner.
*Make a play list of praise songs.
For more like this and the included workbook pages check out Dare To Be A Badass Book!
