Keeping up with yourself

Running, stressing, loss of sleep, overworked and underpaid. These describe the life of a woman. Oftentimes we work so hard, during that hard work, we forget about ourselves.

Recently I have been struggling with life. I mean like come on, coffee at 540am then get the kids ready then get yourself dressed, it is a never ending cycle. We do not stop to think about ourselves. In the year of 2020 women took to social media to blast “self-care”, yet were we really caring for ourselves.

When you ran your bath water and put in the epsom salt and the bubble bath, what were you thinking about? Did your mind stop and think about the kids or the bills that are due or even the family coming over for the holidays? When you sank your body into the steaming hot water, did you stop your brain and focus on your breathing? Did you feel your cares go away with every rise and fall of your chest? I know, I didn't. When I am at 1000, throughout the week, it is difficult for me to turn my mind off and silence the noise of the ever moving world around me.

There is this thing, I tell my patients to do before I give them an injection, I tell them to focus on their breathing, I tell them to take a deep breath through your nose and blow it out slowly. But, I never thought of doing this myself. When I stare at myself in the mirror, I see the way I have sometimes let life and my circumstances run me rampant.But today, I want us to make a change.

Can we stop our minds and just focus on our breathing? Slow your mind, listen to your heartbeat, close your eyes and care for yourself. I mean it, wherever you are, just stop everything. You could be saving your own life. This past week, I found myself having heart attack symptoms, yet, I still went to work and I ignored it. I woke up and made coffee and drove to work and clocked in, as if I weren’t having excruciating chest pain. To the untrained eye, some would think I was crazy, but to a woman, she would say I gotta hustle or keep going. Can we stop this cycle? Use those vacation days and give yourself a break! You will thank me later. People believe that women are trying to keep up with the next woman, the reality is, we are trying to keep up with ourselves. Woman, you can't keep up if you are no longer living. Someone loves you, I love you.

You might have a family at home or a sister or a brother. No matter your circumstance, you have a purpose and there is a plan. You cannot fulfill that purpose, if you are dog tired and dragging your feet. So today, make a promise to yourself that you will get a checkup, you will slow down, and you will take time off to be with yourself and care for your mind and your body. I am taking back my life today and taking care of me, for real this time.