SELF CARE, THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Self care showed up in more places during the covid lockdown, and even more with reopening unfolding across the country.

Most advice serves to create calm in the chaos, instead of just cutting and chopping willy-nilly.

A smaller voice says, “Have another beer and see how that works,” but let’s look at psychology today instead.

Sleep

Make sure your bedroom is the best possible place for you to get good REM sleep. It should be free of distractions (such as a television, laptop, cellphone, etc.).

Notice the writer didn’t mention a couch, the floor, or a lazy boy? If you sleep, or pass-out, in the living room in front of a television, are you doing it wrong?

If you’ve got a partner who likes to watch TV in bed, and you need to jam in earplugs to sleep, is there a better way?

When you live alone, or in an environment under someone else’s control, self care is harder. The first either goes too far, or not at all; the second does what they’re told.

Self care sleep tip: When was the last time you were so bored you fell asleep in the middle of something you were paying attention to? Recreate that moment when you lay your head on your pillow and say, “Breathing in,” with each inhale, and, “Breathing out,” with each exhale.

Do it until the usual things that keep you awake creep in. It goes like this, “Breath in,” but I’ve got a deadline coming up I may not make, “Breathing out.” Say yes after each thought, then continue with, “Breathing in, Breathing out.”

I almost dropped off writing about sleep. Maybe a nap?

Your Gut

An unhappy gut can lead to an unhappy person, and vice-versa. 

I’ve been married to a naturopathic doctor for over thirty years and not a day goes by without a gut mention. That’s their main focus.

Based on my eavesdropping, and watching the health channel until I fall asleep on the couch, food allergies create an unhappy gut.

The big problems are wheat and dairy, but they’re not alone. Maybe it’s an allergy, or intolerance, but if happiness is a goal, and why not, watch your gut. The next time you encounter an angry person, remind yourself it’s probably their gut, not you.

Either that, or they’re just another incorrigible a-hole.

Exercise

 It might be hard to go to the gym every day, so try to incorporate other exercises, such as walking, tennis, or yoga, which may be able to fit into your schedule more easily. The most important thing is to create a routine that works for you.

It might be hard going to the gym any day. Signing up was easy, though, so is paying dues, so why not use a gym you’ve already paid for?

Maybe it’s noisy, smelly, and full of creepy people sharing their creepiness while they walk around slinging sweat everywhere.

A gym isn’t for everyone, but if you apply yourself and ignore all distractions, the benefits walk out the door with you.

Here’s an eye opener from Business Insider: 400 pound sumo wrestlers are not considered obese. Due to their activities, they don’t suffer the same maladies as obese people: high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and heart attacks.

Self Care When The Doctor Is Wrong

A recent conversation with another nut on the family tree revealed they’d gone to the doctor and learned they were pre-diabetic. The finding was based on height and weight charts, and 5’9″ and 170 lbs tipped the scales.

Except the patient was an NCAA D-1 athlete in top shape, not some sluggo dragging in off the street. This was a fierce competitor who knew how to get the most out of their talents; eating right and getting enough sleep was their lifestyle.

I had a similar experience. It’s not too difficult to workout every day for me, and I consider myself in the wrestler category, if not Sumo. I was a load, but a healthy load until a nurse took my blood pressure and said it was too high to ignore.

She used a small cuff on my guns, so I asked her to re-check with the big cuff. It came out normal. Instead of going on high blood pressure meds to avoid a stroke, or kidney problems, I skipped out wondering how many strong people got the wrong reading on the normal cuff.

Personal Self Care

Take a look at the top pic. It’s part of my self care routine.

I live in a neighborhood full of houses that have no sheds. These people hire everything out so they can spend more time ‘entertaining.’ I don’t know what that means, unless it’s inviting friends over to drink beer and play guitar, which is also self care.

Instead of hiring everything out, I take it on first. Then, if I screw up, let the hiring begin.

The boards in the shot are 2 X 12 construction wood for a set of stairs. And it’s heavy as well as awkward. I had to cut the stair runners because the pre-cut in the store were too short.

I used the old stringer as a template, and it worked. I cut one, then another, ready to move on to the third and final. When I set the second piece on the ground to check it against the original, the connecting piece broke off.

If self care is developing and executing a plan of action, and it goes well until the final moment, self care can go bad.

For Better Self Care

Was I angry? No, I was pissed. I stood over that wood wondering why it broke off, blamed myself for picking a bad piece. Covered in sawdust, or man-glitter, I stood for the silent eight count of cussing. It was five o’clock and I’d planned on another hour or two.

But my neighbor came over with a cold one, which ended the cut. I explained the situation. He had a great moment of clarity, at least for me.

“What if you’d gone ahead without the break, hooked it all together, fastened very piece of tread and riser, then it broke,” he said.

“So if it was going to break, it broke just in time?” I said.

“Looks that way to me,” he said.

Self care means offering words of solace, kindness, and sharing a beer?

How’s that work? Pretty good.