My Current Self Care Routine

Well hey there lovely! What's up with you? I hope things are going beautifully for you! I'm still recovering from the vortex of suck and practicing lots of self care lately. It's not a period of depression (for which I am so very thankful for) but I would classify it as a bit of a funk. Those are normal! I can not stress that enough! I used to believe that I had to be happy all of the time or I was failing in some way. It's not true! We all have periods of blah-ness, suckiness, sadness, listlessness, non-motivation-ness, and it's all right! You know how to get through it? Ride it out. Most times, all you need to do is take a little time for yourself to re-calibrate. Ya know when some electronic device isn't working? What's one of the first things you do? You turn it off for a few minutes and then turn it back on with your fingers crossed.

Do that! Give yourself "time off", give yourself time to power down, to rest, before you turn yourself back on and jump full force into life. 

I thought I would share some of the things that I've been doing lately to keep myself happy and to be gentle and loving with myself. Making the conscious decision to take care of yourself in a loving way, is one of the very best things that you can do for yourself.

Romance Novels

Now, growing up, if you would've told me I'd be interested in Romance Novels I promptly would've beat you with my Dragonlance books and then chucked the Redwall series at your head with a wild war cry for good measure. What can I say? My tastes have changed. There are very few things I love more than a good historical romance novel (Regency era, early 1800s England please!). I love books, I  probably own close to 300 and they have always been my escape and my hide-a-way from the real world. Romance novels are especially thrilling for me right now. It satisfies my need for romance (I'm a simple kind of girl it seems) and leaves me giddy and starry-eyed. Lately I've been staying up all hours of the day (which is my sleeping time) just to finish a book and then waking up a few hours later to go to my 3rd shift job. While the lack of sleep is definitely not ideal self-care, the sheer joy and happiness of staying up like I did back in the ol' days with a good book, is.

Quiet Time

You may or may not know that I am a pretty anti-social person. Oh I've been flourishing like a butterfly lately, but I'm not social by nature. I find it difficult to really connect and keep up with friendships. I'm working on it, and I think I'm making some progress, but people really unnerve me. Sometimes I feel like a feral cat who's been mostly domesticated, but I still feel the urge to start randomly hissing at people. The last two weeks I've pulled away from being social, I haven't chatted much, I haven't really felt the need to seek out conversation or be overly talkative. (But please know that I adore all of you who leave me comments and e-mails and I'm sorry if you've felt neglected!) Quiet time really helps me sink back into my me-ness and feel more whole.

Date night... er... day...

Last Tuesday, on my day off, I did something that I rarely do. I went out. Yes, get your shocked gasps out now. I am a homebody, I pretty much bounce from work to home without much variation aside from hanging out with the bestie a few times a month. Tuesday I went to the bookstore by myself, bought myself an extremely delicious caramel frappe, and spent a few hours browsing books and enjoying being out by myself. I had a really good time and it was a nice reminder to step away from work and the computer and actually go out and do things that I enjoy. I think this may turn into a weekly date with myself.

Happy Senses

Another thing that I've been doing is making the most out of the cooler weather, which I absolutely adore! I love the smell of Autumn on the air, it never ceases to fill me with happiness. I think the thing that I love most about the cold... is being warm! When it's cold outside and you get to snuggle up with a warm blanket and fuzzy socks, well that's what Heaven has to look like. Along with spending lots of time with warm blankets, reading romance novels, and eating chocolate covered coffee beans (YUM), I've been using my homemade corn cozie to warm my feet or any achy muscles I have from work and it's so wonderfully relaxing. Cold weather + book + chocolate + warm toesies, are you understanding my recent levels of happiness? It's been epic.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and show you self care IN ACTION and tell you that it works, even little things, they make a difference. Taking time to allow yourself to hang out with a good book, makes a difference. Making sure your toes are warm on a cold day, that counts. Whatever things that you do for you, to make yourself feel good, makes a difference.

What self-care are you going to do today? What's your favorite way to care for yourself when you're in a funk? Share your tips!