Be good to yourself - you deserve it!

Having just survived a four week stint at iCraft bootcamp,  well described by my fellow bootcamper Kat in her blog 65 and off to sellers bootcamp, I have decided that it is time to be good to myself.  We all need time to get rejuvenated once in a while. The dreary days of November are upon us and with the Christmas season just around the corner, now is the time for me!

Over the years I have known some very wise women, some of whom seem to cope a lot better with the stresses of life than I do.  Whether staying at home or pursuing a career, a woman's life can be hectic.  Here are some of the strategies used by a few women I have known:

One Wednesday afternoon I turned up at the door of an elderly friend for a visit, totally unaware that I was disturbing her "day off".  Being a good friend and not wanting to make little of my good intentions, she invited me in but explained that she, like her mother before her, always took Wednesday off.  Her mother had bad feet and she used her day off as an opportunity to stay off of them, but my friend continued the practice (and lived well up into her 80's).  She simply made it known to her family that she was to have this day to herself - time to get off her feet and pamper herself a bit.

 

Another working friend told me that before she took a job outside the home, she took every Friday off without her family even knowing about it.  After everyone else had left for the day, she pulled up the covers instead of making the bed, set her housework aside and, since Friday night supper was usually take-out night, no one even noticed that she hadn't done anything for anyone but herself all day.  If she chose to spend the day reading or sleeping that's what she did!

A third friend told me that when she worked fulltime she took Satuday afternoons off.  Saturday morning would be her catch-up time to cook some food ahead for the week to come and tidy the house.  Then Saturday afternoons were hers, usually time for a luxurious nap.  Her husband and all of her friends knew that she was simply not available on Saturday afternoons.  Even supper was a simple meal with little planning needed.

I myself have never been very successful at finding time for myself by any of the means taken by my three friends.  I always have very good intentions but life intercedes and it seems that everytime I try, I fail to establish time for myself.  Starting a new hobby of making jewellery a couple of years ago was an attempt to do just this.  What would be nicer than having free time to create some beautiful pieces of jewellery for myself and friends?  But has this given me hours of self-indulgence? Not on your life! What it has done is lead me straight to establishing an online store  http://icraft.ca/jajejems and from there to iCraft bootcamp!

Well it really isn't as bad as it sounds, because from my new hobby I have learned a couple of important lessons about what being good to myself really means. 
Lesson  one - finding an activity that is completely engaging can be renewing. Because I started making jewellery I have become involved in making lampwork beads http://icraft.ca/handmade/34695/lampwork-bead-choker-necklace-blueberry-cobbler.php and I have truly found a way to totally lose myself for hours at a time.  Sitting at a propane torch with beautiful, colourful glass rods all around me and turning those glass rods into pretty beads does more for me than two hours spent in the tub!

Lesson two - time spent in the out of doors, even though it may be related to work, never seems like work!  Take for example the process of gathering seaglass.  One of our specialties in our online store is Seaglass jewellery.  My daughter Jessica uses beautiful frosty pieces of seaglass gathered on the beaches of Newfoundland and New Brunswick to make pretty jewellery pieces that we sell in our online store.http://icraft.ca/handmade/30042/seaglass-necklace-in-green-and-gold-sea-scrolls.php.  We both spend hours combing the beach for pieces of seaglass, big and small.  Hours can easily slip by with the sound of waves in the background and seagulls overhead. 

So here is my best advice on being good to yourself.  If you can't seem to make the time to take a day off, or even just a few hours, try to find activities,even if they are related to your work, that are totally engaging.  Activities where you can lose yourself for hours, oblivious to the world around you.  And spend some time in the great outdoors, breathing in the fresh air and listening to the sounds of nature around you.  It's not a guarantee but I will be willing to bet that you will feel renewed, rejuvenated and ready for whatever life throws your way!