self-care Sunday

Not the sort of self-care related to showering or brushing my teeth or flossing daily or wearing clean clothes or even exercising and eating well. Those are things that I've pretty much got down pat at my age! But I'm not so great at the more emotional, less "to do" list part of self-care. More than anything, I'm not so great at stopping and letting myself sit and be still and lounge around. But this morning was perfect for doing just that and although I could have gone for a run (once the rain stopped) or a walk or something like that, it was really just what I needed to stay in my pjs, make some hot tea, catch up on some reading, get the laundry and the cooking going, light a few candles in my cozy space and just sit. And listen to the rain on my window. And enjoy being home. It was one of those weeks where I didn't get home until 9 or 9:30 any night (except for Saturday night when it was a quiet night of Downton Abbey - SO excited to find it plays on Saturday night here, too! Particularly helpful since I missed last week's show.) so being at home was just what I needed. And while there were little tapes in my mind playing messages like "you should get out and run" or "you should go to church", I managed to put the "shoulds" aside and go with the "needs" and the "needs" were all about taking care of myself and having a little hermit time.
And in my hermit time, I found a great quotation that seemed to touch on just what I was feeling: "You cannot keep giving to others if you do not give to yourself, first. It is like pouring water from a vessel: you cannot pour and pour without ever refilling it - eventually, it will run dry. Like that vessel, we, too, need to refill, recharge, re-energize. We need to replenish ourselves, by loving and giving to ourselves." (Leslie Lobell) So this morning was a little gift to myself. And just enough to refill that vessel so that I can start the week renewed, enjoy my photography class this afternoon (new territory for me!), and soak up some yoga this evening...a little work in between all of those things. But work that's being powered by rest and renewal and not merely a "should" complex. Just what I needed.