How do I make time for self-care?
Easy.
I make sure the first three hours of the day are mine.
Mine and MINE alone!
I am a morning bird. I actually wake up before the birds do.
Why?
I love my mornings too much to share it with the world. I love myself way too much to share the best of myself during the best time of my day with anyone.
Sorry. Not even family.
I am up by 4 am. Between 4 am and 7 am, I am busy in communion with myself, my mind, my heart, my soul and God.
It is when I sing, pray, meditate, exercise and contemplate in solitude. There is just me, my sacred space within and without, filled with my art, my figurines, some candles, my mat, a cup of tea and two litres of water; filling my cup inside out.
No one is privy to this sacred communion. Period. No disturbance. No intervention.
This is a habit I inculcated since childhood when I would wake up first in the small hours of the morning to study. It would be all the more fun in deep winters with bone deep cold for company. What can I say…I am my warmest best when it is cold outside! I might be shivering but the shivers would be shimmering with joy and bliss!
It is one habit that I have rarely broken. Except for a few times when I was down with some illness or when travelling and living with people where conditions were not conducive enough to carve out my special self care time. I still make sure I head out for a walk atleast as soon as I am up.
My mornings are for myself. I simply hate sharing it with people. It is the worst time to get my attention because you simply will be brushed aside — consider me rude or not, I don’t care.
I live with demanding people with needs that need attention. I have survived some of the worst stressful jobs out there. And I am also a depression and suicide survivor.
The one thing that helped and helps me stay afloat an ocean of demands and needs from my own mind extending to others is my self care routine.
A routine I will never let go of. It is less a routine more an extention of myself.
If the call time at home or during trips or festivals or any occasion is 2 am for some godforsaken reason, I make sure I am up by 1 am and done with my self care routine before I meet and greet the world. It cannot and will not wait or stop for anyone or anything.
Those three precious hours make me ME. Sane, calm, happy, centred, ready.
Ready to win myself and win the world.
I wouldn’t dare to dream of letting it go. No one and nothing is worth my self care. That’s all.
Care to drop a tiny pearl from the ocean of your mind?