Self Care 101

 The average human, myself included, does not do the best job of taking care of themselves. Our society has become so busy and loud that we don't take a day or so to chill and care for our bodies and minds. While doing only this every day is probably not workable (if you are a working adult with a full schedule), you shouldn't neglect self-care. 

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After missing your day of rest during the week you are usually painfully aware of your exhaustion. Sometimes you did it to yourself. Other times you had no choice in the matter. Whatever the reason, you are due for a self-care day. Today I will guide you into a, hopefully, better day. I make no guarantees because I don't know who will read this. You'll at least be healthier for it. 

water, sugar, and sleep

As crazy as this sounds, most of this should be common sense, but I forget to do this. Drinking water and eating full and balanced meals makes a world of difference in your mental health. Sleeping at a healthy schedule and doing so every night is enough to impact you, as well. I will add that sleep deprivation will kill you faster than food or water deprivation. Our basic needs affect our mental capacity to think. 

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How do you tell if you are dehydrated? Easy, go pee and look at the color. Gross? Yes, but if it isn't clear you need to drink a few cups of water next time you pass the fridge or sink. Soon. The more hydrated you are, the more your body takes care of itself, and the more clearly you think. When it comes to water, you need it to cool down and breathe. 

Blood sugar levels are important. Ask any diabetic and they will prove that to you rather quickly. You can die if they are too high or too low. Some diabetics have (I know one that did). If it is low your mood and energy may slow. High sugar means you can't sit still, from my experience, and water helps this along with sources of protein. Low sugar means you make yourself a peanut butter sandwich and pour yourself some orange juice (or any juice). Balance this and you won't regret it.

Sleep is highly necessary to the healthy functioning of the body. You rest and heal in this state, dream in this state, and can die without it. I once went two weeks with stress that affected my sleep and became someone that I hadn't ever been before. My emotions were unhinged. I couldn't stop crying until I slept for 5 plus hours and missed the pictures for the musical my senior year of high school. I screamed at one poor soul about lighting in my scene (and apologized profusely later). It was bad. Please, sleep, or you will regret it highly. 

In the general sense (minus some factors like mental illness), you can fix some mood issues by eating balanced meals, drinking water, and sleeping healthily. It was actually a form of torture to deprive someone of sleep, food, and water at one point (obviously, illegal). People died without giving up information or they gave in just to get their basic needs. The true patriots were silent as the grave and ended up in graves. 

prioritizing and backburner list

Mental health rule of thumb, dial it down to what is most important and leave what isn't on a back-burner list. You can come back to beat your high score on a game, for example, but your relationship with your wife/husband is probably not going on the back-burner list. I live by lists, and one of them is projects I can come back to later. This means that I can focus on urgent tasks (hopefully finishing started projects), then start something new. That way I won't have 2 million projects on my list and overwhelm myself to death. 

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Let me break down what is and isn't back-burner projects. Ask yourself these questions and you will be able to figure it out from here.

1. Can it wait? If yes, backburner

2. Is it urgent or has a deadline attached? If yes, not backburner

3. Is it a hobby that is for my own enjoyment/sanity? If yes, backburner

4. Is this project a gift or assignment for someone/something? If yes, not backburner

I think you understand from here. I'll answer the "why" at this point. We, as humans, take on too much sometimes and need to go back to what is truly urgent, important, and priority. A priority and back-burner list can help you focus your energy on the highest priority tasks, while still allowing you to plan future projects (yes, artists and hobby people, I'm talking to you). You'll get more productive if you do this successfully. It may not work for you, however, so try it and see what happens. 

faith centering

I speak from a Christian perspective. I believe that knowing who you are in Christ is the most important thing in the world, far above anything else. So, to that end, I will talk about faith and centering yourself in who you are in Christ. If you don't agree, you need not comment or complain - just pass this section and read on past it. 

Now that you are warned, I go on. I find it calming, and helpful, to pick a time of day to read God's Word, pray, and spend time with God. Cut the time out of your busy life to do this and pick a time of day to be alone or with a spouse. I find the Youversion app to be a great way to do this, since it will read to you, thus allowing you to do dishes or other necessary chores while you listen to the Word. I also sit in God's presence for at least a few minutes each day to listen for God's voice/message for that day. Whether I get anything or not, I find it calming to do so. 

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Why does this help? In my experience, God has given me direction for that day and a moment to catch my breath before I jump into the day itself. It orients your thoughts in the right direction as you start the day off. It makes it easier to handle whatever comes at you. I don't claim God makes every day a cakewalk. Focusing on Christ at least gets you moving in the correct path and prepares you for the events you are going to experience. You get out of it what you put in, too, so if you plan to do this you shouldn't be too distracted. No matter what you have a new day every morning and can try to create this habit in time. It will take some time, so start any day and try to keep it going all week. 

No idea how to start? What you can start with is giving God all your stress and worry. It makes it easier to dial in on the Word for the time you have set aside. The next step is praise and thanks to God and what He's done already. This is the part where you could open your Bible (and reading plans help here) and read/listen. After this, you pray to ask for direction and remain silent for five minutes (at least) to open your ears. You can close with a prayer of any type and go on for as long as you like. This is only a suggestion, so you can do this with a journal or any device you want to, and in any order at all. 

taking a day for self

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Mental health days are good. Go do your hobbies for a bit. It keeps you sane and makes you relax for at least one day of the week, which I recommend planning ahead. Plan one day to relax -just one- and you will thank yourself for it. When I said that we overbook ourselves and need to stop and prioritize, this is part of that. If you need to hide your laptop or devices all day, do it. No one should fault you for time to yourself. 

I have a few suggestions for days of recharge. First of all, your social media is actually kind of exhausting. You might want to avoid it all day. Second of all, the devices that you overuse (like a laptop or tablet, in my case) might need to hide for the day or be only used if you have a purpose for them. Lastly, pick up those hobbies you didn't have time for before. Go read that book you started and play your favorite game. I give you all full permission to pull out what you miss doing as a kid. It helps you destress and chill. As long as every day is not a self-day, you are totally cool to do whatever. 

cutting unnecessary projects

All you artists out there understand exactly what I mean - myself included. You have a million ideas, a full Pinterest account of things you want to do, and no time to do it all. Go pull out that back-burner list and see what you can do later on. Look at the amount of time you have in your schedule. I'll give you some guide questions to do this with.

1. Do you have time to do it well? If no, back-burner or don't even put it on your list

2. Do I have at least five more projects ahead of this one? If yes, pass on it. 

3. Is this a gift for someone? If no, pass on it.

4. Are you excited to do the project? If no, take it off your lists entirely. 

5. Is it required by work or school? If yes, go put it on your priority list. 

You probably know the answers to those questions instinctively. If it is not required, it isn't exciting to you, and you have no time to even look at a project you can delete it off all lists. If you have to, go delete it off your Pinterest board. You can even organize your boards on there by back-burner and priority.  Do what works best for you. Don't overwhelm yourself with your own passions and hobbies. 

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what you eat

Lastly, let's talk about the average human's meals. Balanced meals aren't easy to get in the habit of doing with all that junk food we keep in our desks and kitchens. Quick meals are not always bad, but they have to sustain us until the next meal or we reach for a snack later. I'm going to give you the simple breakdown of a healthy plate, according to Harvard T. H. Chan. Part of this is still exercising, so keep your body moving in whatever fashion you can along with this guideline. 

From what I read on that page, you need 1/4 of healthy protein, 1/4 grains, 1/8 fruits, the rest of the plate vegetables (a bit more than 1/4), plant oils in moderation, and drinking water (while avoiding sugary drinks). I am summarizing, but I'd bet most of us would have a higher grocery bill if we followed their advice to the letter. I have the website here for you to read in full. Basically, just eat sustaining food and don't over-sugar or starve yourselves. It isn't that hard if you also stay active (unless you already have health issues). If you have complicated health issues you may need more help in this department.

Conclusions

There is a lot here, but it boils down to focusing on Christ, eating good meals, staying active, drinking water, sleeping, and prioritizing your activities. Still a lot, but yet, if you build the habit it becomes second nature. You will thank yourselves for taking care of your bodies and minds. All of your bodies are connected together and created to work with every part of you. It is a bit like an analogy of how the Church is supposed to work. If one part is not working, the rest of you doesn't work as well. Take care of yourselves out there and God bless!