Yesterday was my last day with an organization I’ve worked at for 15 years. I left one fantastic organization and will be joining an equally wonderful one on August 6 (more on all of that in a future post). The two-week break between assignments in intentional. I need some time to relax and decompress in order to be at my best when I begin my new professional journey. Counting weekends, I have 16 days off. I haven’t had two consecutive weeks of vacation in 22 years.
So today, I’m kicking off what I call 16 Days of Self-Care. I have no idea what this is going to look like. All I know is I’m going to spend at least a few minutes each day doing something that relaxes my muscles (I have to remind myself to take time to stretch), relaxes my mind, or relaxes my spirit (I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and have been cheating myself out of a daily meditation practice).
In order to keep myself accountable, I’m going to send a daily Tweet that briefly explains what I did that day. My Twitter handle is @Pamojamo if you want to follow. I’ll bundle a couple of days’ worth of self-care notes and post them here.
I’d love your suggestions. What do you do to renew your mind, body and spirit? Leave me the 411 in the comments section.
My hope is that by the end of 16 days, carving out a little time for self-care becomes a daily habit. I don’t want this to be something I do only when on vacation.
Two issues (I hope). I must must take umbrage with the phrase "be ashamed until....." BE ASHAMED??? of what, when, where?? Never. It is impossible to be a child of God -- whole and perfect and be ashamed. When has shame ever 
I first heard of this word when I took part in the Winter Feast For the Soul. I have been a follower of the meditation teacher Davidji from the Chopra Center for two years now and he taught a lesson on this during the Feast. I play that downloaded me
Back in 2010, I posted a “21 Day Self-Care Challenge” on a site I co-authored at the time. It’s still up–and has 21 days of tips that take 30 minutes or less. Maybe some of those ideas will fit for you. Here’s the link.
My favorite self-care activity is yoga, which I even teach since I’m such a convert. You can find freebies everywhere if you don’t want to sign up for a class: Youtube, Exercise TV if you have OnDemand with your cable, DVDs from the library, podcasts all over the internet. If you have an iPad, check out Jivamukti Magic 10. I love it and make sure I do at least that every day, if I don’t have time to get to class.
I think the best way to make a habit of self-care that sticks is to make it like an appointment with yourself. Write it in your planner; set your phone to remind you. You wouldn’t skip your dental or well woman check-up. Make daily self-care in the same category. It’s that important.
Good luck! Be proud of yourself for taking this on.
Thank you for the link; I’ll check it out. I appreciate the tips you’ve given me. I plan to try a beginner’s yoga class at my local Y. I’ll also soon have access to a weekly class that meets in the same building my new office is housed in. Can’t wait to try it.