Let’s be honest; I’ve had many, many come-to-Jesus talks with myself re: “being healthier” or “taking better care of myself” over the years. Self-care, finding balance, and being healthy are all Holy Grail kind of pursuits, i.e., they are searching for a sort of perfection that doesn’t exist.
It’s good to remember that any self-care program that includes all my favorite activities AND all my ideal health regimens, EVERY DAY isn’t self-care; it’s a kind of self-flagellation. That said, Rebecca Loebe had a nice post the other day on Facebook on what she aspires to. I wanted to share it. For me, it probably flies a little close to sunny perfection to be realistic, but it holds lots of the things I’d like to do most weeks (if not most days). Maybe you’ll take some inspiration from it too.
Rebecca’s Self-Care Plan
Real talk: being on the road while grieving, and absorbing one current events gut punch after another, has properly kicked my ass.
Sitting quietly on the plane home last week, I had an honest conversation with myself about what I need. Here’s what I came up with.
Rebecca’s Back-To-Basics Self Parenting Plan:
First thing in the morning:
Big glass of water
Stretching routine
Meditate
Exercise
Breakfast
Vitamins
^ don’t look at phone until all this is done
CREATE! Make art, practice guitar and piano, write songs, write essays, write letters to friends, do crafty projects just for fun. Making stuff makes me feel so good.
Connect with friends
Eat food that makes my body feel good (for me that’s lotsa veggies, minimal caffeine, booze and sugar but everyone is different)
Unplug: for me that looks like deleting socials and email apps from my phone except when I need them. Last week I deleted I G and Gmail from my phone and my screen time went down 47% 
(also, duh). Sleeping with my phone in another room so I don’t scroll first thing in the morning and last thing at night is a HUGE game changer.
Be mindful of news and media consumption. Take breaks, don’t podcast my way through the day.
Read books (very open to suggestion, lmk what you’re enjoying!)
Bedtime routine: warm tea, tidy office while listening to music, plug phone in somewhere besides the bedroom. Gua sha, meditate, stretch before bed.
I’m doing as much of this as I can everyday while also being forgiving and gentle with myself (it’s a huge list and there are only so many hours in a day). I’m committed to doing my best and accepting that that’s all I can do.
How do you parent yourself?
Enjoy!
The Prompt:
___
New to Chord Flow?
Here’s an intro: Chord Flow, Playing with the Basics
Here’s how it works in the Key of C: Chord Flow in the Key of C
Chord substitution with Chord Flow: ACEing Chord Flow Substitution
The Next Fearless Challenge begins Sunday, July, 24th
timmyr.com 