It’s 9 am and I’m still not dressed. Pre-kiddo, that wouldn’t have been weird at all. In fact not getting dressed all day (I worked from home even before COVID) was not an uncommon occurrence.
But this parenting life is a whole new ballgame. Up by 6 most days, making breakfast by 7, en route to preschool by 8:30, back home and at my desk to work at 9…
I was remembering how, when I was in high school, my very-evolved single dad used to let me take one self-care day each quarter. He told me it wasn’t about being sick, and it wasn’t intended to be a get-out-of-jail-free card on test days. He said that, as long as I didn’t have an exam or a paper due, or some other deadline I was trying to skip out on, and as long as no one was counting on me for something, I could choose one day to stay home and recharge.
The funny thing? I hardly ever actually used my self-care days! I tended to forget about them or decide to take one and then change my mind and go to school at the last minute.
Well, I’ve decided to reimplement my dad’s brilliant self-care day approach. Once a month, on a work day, I’ll let myself stay in my robe all day, drink too many pots of coffee, lounge around while my kid is at preschool (normally the most frantically productive period of my day), soak in a long bath, and whatever else feels good or helps me recharge. As long as I don’t have a deadline or no one is counting on me for something, work and everything else can wait.
And this is why I’m still in my robe at 9 am today! It’s #selfcareday (not that every day shouldn’t include elements of self-care– just that this is the day where I’ll make self-care the focus). Off to run that bath…
What are you up to today? How will you fit in your self-care this week?
