Are you good at taking care of yourself? We know it is essential, yet it seems to be the thing we push aside more often than we care to admit. This week was one of those weeks, and I had a BIG fail at self-care. Hopefully, you won’t make the same mistake.
Last week I took a short blogging break to spend time doing what I love – skiing. It was glorious. By far, it is my #1 self-care activity. I find it clears my mind.
What is your favorite self-care activity?
However, after a week of bliss taking in the beauty, it all turned BAD.
Upon arriving home late Saturday night, I hit the fast forward button, and it must have become stuck. I jumped right in with meetings, serving, writing, and a presentation. Yes, in my stupidity, I planned it this way.
My First Mistake
Keep in mind, skiing refreshes my mind but not my body. I was physically exhausted. Usually, I try to honor the Sabbath, but this week I rationalized why I didn’t need to. This was my first mistake.
So when we wrapped it all up on Sunday night, I quickly pulled my contacts out, put them in the solution, and fell into bed.
Monday and Tuesday were no different, except I was so busy I never bothered to put my contacts back in.
Do you ever feel like you are running at full speed with no time to spare?
It isn’t really a pretty sight, is it? I had clothes strewn from one end of my house to the other. Dirty clothes, clean clothes, packed clothes, and presentation outfits draped all over the room.
The Pride of Doing It All
But it looked like I was going to pull it all off and even on time. I was kind of proud of myself. Somehow I had managed my to-do list and would be able to deliver everything I had promised, even on time.
As I headed for the door, I ran back to pop in my contacts. I figured it would be helpful for me to be able to see my audience.
The Fall
I reached down and quickly grabbed the left one and put it in my eye. BUT what came next was not what I expected. I screamed out in excruciating pain. Tears immediately streamed down my face as I pulled at the contact to get it out. I quickly began rinsing it in the shower. My eye was on fire!
Oh, but I didn’t stop there and take good care of myself. Instead, I pushed through it all. After all, the presentation was on something dear to my heart, and I didn’t want to skip the lesson.
My husband took one look at me and knew something was wrong. But of course, I minimized it as I wasn’t quite sure if this called for an ER visit or one of those things you push right through. So I pushed on, managing to push aside the pain for the sake of the schedule I needed to follow.
Slumber Did Not Visit
I was up all night in severe pain, which gave me plenty of time to investigate the crime and all possible scenarios. Hmm – under the sink, I found the expired solution, and right next to it, some skin lightening toner. Surely someone must have put the wrong solution in my contact lens case. But who would do such a thing?
As I looked in the mirror, the guilty party stared right back. It was me! But now, the accused one looked like the devil herself with a very red eye.
The Humbling
I was embarrassed; how do you explain putting toner in your eye in the first place and then not going right away to get it flushed out? So there I sat in the optometrist chair, squirming as she forcefully rinsed out my eye. I’m not sure which was worse, swallowing my pride or the pain from chemically burning my eye.
I had been exhausted on Sunday night when I went to bed. A week away can’t do the trick of self-care if we head right back into overload. I was spinning way too many plates all at once.
We need daily self-care - I know it, I preach it, but I still struggle to do it at times. Are you like me? Click To Tweet
Today we have Tiffiney Holmes sharing a fabulous post with us to remind us of 5 Self-Care practices to add balance and vitality to our lives. She is a mom of 6 who writes about strong marriages, families, and faith. Be sure to visit her over on Welcome Home Ministry.
Self-care is not a bad word or a selfish act. It is necessary! Click To Tweet
If you struggle with doing self-care for yourself, then do it for your family. Tiffiney says it well,
“It’s my reminder for you to take some time for yourself. It’s about encouraging you to take time to fill your cup so that you can continue to joyfully pour yourself into your family.” Tiffiney Holmes
After you read her post, I would love to have you hop back over here and share with me which one of the five practices of self-care you have done today. Please don’t be like me and fail at daily self-care.
Now for Our Featured Post
“The Christian Girl’s Guide to Self-Care: 5 Best Practices for Wives and Moms”
By Tiffiney Holmes
Click here to read our featured post.
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Ouch! I hope your eye recovered! Self-care is so very, very important–as is scheduling in margin in our lives. The consequences aren’t pretty.
Anita – Oh no you used the margin word. Yes, the scheduling of margin is so important. I have loved all your posts on self-care. Blessings, Maree
I’ve had too much going on myself so this is a good lesson for me to read. I’m glad you got to go skiing though! It’s been quite a few years since I have done that.
Lisa – I am praying are able to slow down with all you have going on. It does seem to all catch up to us. Glad my post was helpful. You should try skiing again, it clears the mind. I just got back from a few hours of it. I feel like a new person. Blessings, Maree
Oh, Maree Dee, so sorry that happened. It must have been so painful! Thank you for reminding us how important it is to practice self care. It’s so easy to just keep pushing and forget about how much our own bodies need care. Blessings to you! I’m your neighbor this week at #InspireMeMonday.
Hi Neighbor at #inspireMeMonday. I hope you are having a great week and practicing a little self-care. I am making sure to slow down and practice self-care. Maree
Yes! Such a good word!
Self care is not a bad word. What a great reminder!
Sure do appreciate you and your ministry.
Found your post on Blessing Bloggers FB.
Hope you have a blessed day~
Melanie
Thank you!! You brightened my day. I hope you have a fantastic week. Blessings, Maree
That is good news Maree! Praise God for His healing grace! 😀
Blessings,
Jennifer
Thank you!! Yes, praising God.
Oh my goodness, Marie! What a story! I can hardly believe that happened to you. I hope your eye will be OK. Please update us in another post or in facebook/Instagram. This post was great! (I loved the sking pic.) Yes, an unfortunate circumstance occurred, but you were so transparent, and I pray your story blesses others.
Thank you for featuring my post. I’m both humbled and grateful for the opportunity. Blessings to you, my friend. Please feel better. 😊
Tiffiney,
It was an honor and quite honestly a perfect post for the week I had. I am keeping your self-care list at the front of my mind.
What a great idea about updating the status of my eye. I will do that on Instagram and Facebook later this week. But so far so good. I got a great report from the doctor yesterday. Thanking God I didn’t lose my eyesight.
Blessings, Maree
Is your eye going to be okay Maree?
I have learnt from hard experience in having chronic health conditions that I can’t do that anymore.
But I once did!
I have included my post above “Retreat! Retreat!” Which is what I now do for self care 😀
Blessings,
Jennifer
Jennifer – Yes, good news on my eye. I saw the doctor yesterday, and she was pleasantly surprised at how well my eye was healing. It appears as though I will have no permanent damage as long as my recovery remains steady. I am thanking God.
I will head over and read your post. Thank you for pointing it out.
Living with a chronic health condition must be so difficult. I am sending a prayer right now for you. I bet you have many lessons you can teach all of us.
Hoping you have a restful Sunday,
Maree
Can so relate Maree with your attitude, I am just going to press through. Pain and all.
Tiffany’s article so good. Today did #1.
Theresa, Congratulation on doing #1, doesn’t it feel good? I am just starting my day, but I managed to get #3 and #4 in yesterday. I am glad I am not alone in the “press through it” attitude. Sometimes it can be a great thing, but I am finding many times it is not. Blessings, Maree
I needed this message today. I too had wonderful rest and refreshment last week – even wrote and linked up about it today. But I’ve jumped right back into the fray. laurensparks.net
Lauren, Be careful jumping back in. Thank you for linking up, I will look for your post. I hope you have been able to find some rest in your weekend. Maree
This is such an important topic. And no matter how often I think about it or read about it, it seems I always have more to learn. Maybe putting it in practice is more important than just reading about it? 😉
Rebecca – Haha – Yes, practicing self-care makes more sense than just reading about it. I too always have more to learn. Maree
Oh my, sorry to hear about your eye. I hope all is well by now! Why do we do these things to ourselves, right?! There are always lessons to learn.
Crystal – Thank you! I am on the road to recovery. Yes, many lessons to learn. I hope your weekend has been excellent – full of rest. Maree
Maree, I’m so sorry you developed chemical burn on your eye! It must have been excruciating. I’m really not the best at self-care; there is always so much to do and for good reasons. I particularly need to focus more on eating regularly. I’ll often skip meals in order to push through work or other tasks. Great post by Tiffeney!
Tammy, Yes, it was excruciating and embarrassing, especially since I didn’t take care of it right away. You are so right it makes it harder when the reasons are good. I am praying for you right now that you will focus on self-care and eat regularly. Yes, I loved Tiffiney’s post too. Maree
Maree, so sorry to read about the pride and the fall! I hope your eye is better now. I have been there many times – trying to get just one more thing done before I leave the house for an appointment. Thank you for the good reminder to slow down! Just what I needed to read today.
Laurie, Thank you!! Yes, I am on the road to recovery with my eye. I am slowing down. Maree
Oh Maree – I’m wincing just thinking of your poor eye. It is so hard to balance getting stuff done and time to rest – how we need God’s wisdom in it all.
One thing my husband and I started doing several years ago was to come back early, if possible, from any trip to give us a cushion between travel and getting back into the regular routine. That helped so much. Sometimes my kids now will get home from a trip late at night and then have to start back to work the next day – I don’t know how they do it.
Barbara – Great tip on traveling. I need to implement that into our travel schedule. Thank you!! Maree
Oh my goodness! This is me. I’ve been burning the candle on both ends, so to speak, and it is catching up with me. Thank you for the reminder to take care of myself and keep the Sabbath Holy!
Susan, I am so glad I am not alone. However, it is not a good idea for us to be in this boat together. It catches up to us. Praying you find/make some time tomorrow (Sunday) to rest. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a message. Blessings, Maree