With every change of season and transition, my self care practices need to be tweaked. It seems like as soon as I’ve got a routine running like clockwork, something changes that makes my practice not fit into the realities of my life anymore.
So while I had gotten into the habit of meditating, riding my exercise bike, and journaling every morning, trying to continue this with my kids home from school turned a practice that had been nurturing into an exercise in frustration.
The importance of being flexible and adaptable in creating self care routines is essential. What works for you in the beautiful weather of summertime might feel punishing in the depths of winter, (I’m looking at you, former running routine!) Injuries happen that require us to give up on or temporarily suspend daily exercise routines. Schedules change in yoga studios. What used to excite us starts feeling like a chore.
So I’m in the process of recreating my self-care routines so that they work with my two children now being underfoot in the mornings. My time on the bike and sitting meditation has been traded for yoga videos with an extended shavasana, practiced outside when the weather permits or closed away from my kids when I need to stay inside. I’ve encouraged my kids to join me in my practice as a strategy to avoid their interruptions (with no success... yet!)
So if you have established self care routines that have stopped flowing with your life, try not to rigidly hold on to what you have been doing and instead figure out what activities could give you similar benefits but might fit a bit better with your current realities. Until, inevitably, it all needs to shift once again.
So while I had gotten into the habit of meditating, riding my exercise bike, and journaling every morning, trying to continue this with my kids home from school turned a practice that had been nurturing into an exercise in frustration.
The importance of being flexible and adaptable in creating self care routines is essential. What works for you in the beautiful weather of summertime might feel punishing in the depths of winter, (I’m looking at you, former running routine!) Injuries happen that require us to give up on or temporarily suspend daily exercise routines. Schedules change in yoga studios. What used to excite us starts feeling like a chore.
So I’m in the process of recreating my self-care routines so that they work with my two children now being underfoot in the mornings. My time on the bike and sitting meditation has been traded for yoga videos with an extended shavasana, practiced outside when the weather permits or closed away from my kids when I need to stay inside. I’ve encouraged my kids to join me in my practice as a strategy to avoid their interruptions (with no success... yet!)
So if you have established self care routines that have stopped flowing with your life, try not to rigidly hold on to what you have been doing and instead figure out what activities could give you similar benefits but might fit a bit better with your current realities. Until, inevitably, it all needs to shift once again.
