I am tired to my core. Have you ever been so tired, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and all of the other ally’s? Life can be so difficult at times and my human body can only take so much, ya know? I am not finding much rest at the moment.

I work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, with 2 hours of driving there and back, do the math folks, that leaves 10 hours in a day to try to catch up on laundry, pay bills, run to the grocery store, go to this appointment or that place, or try to make time to spend with my family. Sleep? There’s no time to sleep. Who needs sleep? *raises hand* ME, I need sleep. Overwhelmed and exhausted is a gross understatement at this particular moment. Good grief that sounded awfully whiny. *ho hum*

Is it only women who experience these times? Do men go through periods of feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted? I mean I’ve heard guys say they are tired but rarely do I hear them talking about being so exhausted and overwhelmed they don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground, which happens to be me at the moment. (that’s such a weird statement…wonder where it came from? Stay on task…. that research will need to wait for another time and place. LOL)

Back to being exhausted and overwhelmed. Gee that sounds like a good time. NOT! Seriously though, I believe there are many of us, humans that is, who are like zombies, dead on our feet, walking around looking for something we can’t quite put our finger on. We know we’re meant to do something other than what we are doing, but we can’t quite figure it out. So, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year, we do the same thing over and over again. Work, work, work so we can pay our bills and have a ‘life’. Do we really have lives or are we spending our days too tired to do or care about anything completely?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m liking my job but Lord, I dream of being a domestic goddess. My dream growing up was to get married, have a gaggle of kids and be at home with them. I love the domestic side of life. Really, I do. I love doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, making beds, playing with the kids, budgeting, you know, all things ‘womanly’. Unfortunately, that dream quickly died and I was forced to do things I don’t like so much…. getting up to an alarm, grabbing a quick shower, throwing some food to my growling stomach, hitting the road to work, and busting my ass for 14 hours.

Life doesn’t always turn out like we imagine it or dream it. More times than not, our lives are the complete opposite of what we want or thought it would be. The current situation for many of us looks like that commercial from long ago for Enjoli….. “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never, ever let you forget you’re a…WAIT! I don’t have a man. I am single. LMAO!! (and…slap happy has settled in. I told you I was tired)

Where was I going with this? Oh, yes, life as we discussed several posts ago is about change. Life can be overwhelming and exhausting without a doubt, but, our first priority is to take care of ourselves. I suck at self-care. I spend so much time taking care of everything and everyone that I forget that I too need to be taken care of. When there is no one to take care of us, we have to take care of ourselves. That means, financially, physically, emotionally, mentally, and again all the other ally’s.

I am currently failing at taking care of me. I don’t get enough sleep. I don’t eat well. Exercise comes in the form of getting out of bed and bending over to tie my shoes. Of course, exercise also comes in the form of 12000+ steps a day walking circles in my store trying to get things done, which my sister says is interesting because my store is a square (she’s such a smart ass). So, how do we take care of ourselves when we already do so much?

I’ve read some tips on self-care that say, getting up an hour earlier than you have to is a good self care routine. In that hour you can find some quiet time to reflect, think, meditate, and spend some time talking with God. I’m not currently doing this, it’s the whole getting up an hour early that gets me every time. LOL!

I’ve read a few times that getting out in nature, taking a walk, or sitting near water can help us find an inner peace. AWESOME! It’s dark when I get up and it’s dark when I get home. I don’t think I’m feeling the whole getting into nature when it’s dark and now getting colder outside, not to mention, I don’t live near water which will be frozen solid before too long anyway.

I’ve also read about staying up awhile after everyone else is in bed. Staying up sounds like a good idea, until I remember I’m only going to get 4 and a half hours of sleep as it is. So, ics nay on the up stay.

After all this reading about self-care as I sat in bed trying to get to sleep and not being able to because my brain likes to talk at night. That little biotch doesn’t say much all day long, but let me crawl into bed and suddenly all she wants to do is chit chat on and on…… UGH!! Anyway, after reading all about self-care I started thinking about how self care is sort of like women’s jean sizes, one size does not fit everyone the same. Psst, that’s the best self-care tip I mentioned in the title of this post, so let me repeat it. Self-care is sort of like women’s jean sizes, one size does not fit everyone the same.

Self-care tips are great, don’t misunderstand, but what works for one, may not work for another. We have to decide what we need, figure out what it looks like, and then make what works for us, work. If that comes in the form of taking someone else’s ideas and they work for you, awesome, but if what you read in all those articles and self help books doesn’t work for you, then hey, that’s okay too. We are all different and so, it stands to reason, how we take care of ourselves will be different too.

I don’t know about you, but more often than not, I feel guilty if I take care of what I need, not to mention I am too tired to care most of the time. NOT GOOD!! It’s time for me to figure out what self-care for me looks like. Thankfully, what my self-care looks like may not be what your self-care looks like and vice versa. Read the tips, learn from them, but more importantly, know what you need and then figure out how to get it into your daily routine, no matter how stressful or busy that may be. Make time to take care of YOU! (I hear you, I need to practice what I preach. Girl, I’m trying)

So, we are going to make a pact here and now. I will work on self-care for me and in turn, you will work on self-care for you and together we will hold each other accountable.

So, how did you take care of YOU today?

Self -care is not selfish. IT IS VITAL!