The past six weeks have been a bit of a blur – I’ve been solely focused on my gallbladder issues.  But 3 weeks post surgery and I not only feel better but somehow my general outlook has also improved.  I still have the same worries and frustrations as before, but I have this feeling that everything will work itself out and I’m far less worried about it all.  It’s kind of an amazing place to be in! 

This switch in perspective really made me realize that I wasn’t giving myself a lot of self-care lately, and my mood and energy shifted to reflect that.  I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what I can do to take better care of myself, and I wanted to share those with you…

Start my day with some “me” time.
My surgery forced me to slow down a bit, and I was really grateful for the time it gave me to re-energize.  One thing I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks is waking up early and just spending time with myself. Sometimes I sit on my back porch with a cup of coffee and just think, or I might sit in my bedroom and journal or read, or I might take my dog for a really long walk… It doesn’t matter what it is that I do – what matters is that I’m giving myself time to just be – and it starts my day off right.  I think this has a lot to do with my positive energy shift.

Spend time with people who bring me joy
This seems like a “duh!” sort of thing, but I’ve just realized that I’ve been giving time and attention to people who bring me down rather than lift me up.  It always seemed harmless until I recognized that it actually affected my psyche pretty deeply. So I’m going to create some boundaries with the negative people in my life, and give my time and attention to those that bring me joy.

Be creative
I love to create… drawing, painting, sewing, crafting… it all brings me immense satisfaction and it’s pretty vital to my happiness.  Lately, I’ve been so focused on all the things I have to do – that I haven’t given any time to things that I want to do. But I’m starting to make time for these things…  I just made a cool little diorama for my niece for her birthday, and painted a giant pair of angel wings for my bedroom… and these small projects have really given me a new life!  So I need to remember that I’m a creative being and prioritize it – because it feeds my soul.

Rest
I’m one of those people who go to bed late and wakes up early – there was always something more important to do than sleep.  But I’m tired, and maybe I just need to allow myself time to rest. Things can wait, people can wait. I can’t give what I don’t have… so I’m going to refuel and hopefully, the world will get a better me!

So this is where I’m at right now.  I hope that you can find a nugget of something useful in it.  Take care of yourselves, my friends!

~C