Eat, Sleep, Drink and Be Merry

 

Eat, Sleep, Drink and Be Merry

Physical needs brings me to one of my favorite metaphors: the pre-flight lecture we get from flight attendants. Remember what they say about the oxygen mask that drops from the overhead compartment? Place your own mask on before you assist someone else. In other words, you are no good to anyone if you collapse. From my perspective, that collapse can be mental, emotional or physical exhaustion. Self-care is not self-indulgent. By being our best possible selves, we can be the best parent, spouse, co-worker, child or friend that we can be. 

Sometimes we treat life like a check-list (don’t get me wrong, I love a good list!) or a report card. We have forgotten to listen to what our body and brain are trying to tell us. Take a moment to consider if you are doing something because it has to be done, because you want to do it or because you think you have to do it. 

It's only two weeks until Easter. Consider your traditions. Do they have significance to you? Do you enjoy them for their own sake? When I worked from home, and had pre-school age children, I decorated for every holiday. Including St. Patrick's Day and Remembrance Day. When I started working away from home, I tried to keep it up. I had convinced myself that it was part of being a good mother. It became a checklist that I was starting to resent. Now, we only decorate eggs if we are inspired to do so. Some years we go all out with Pysanky, which is a lot of fun, IF you are in the mood! There is no rule about how we have to spend family time on a holiday. Last Easter we had a deer sausage picnic in the woods. Rodeo sure thought the forest Easter egg hunt was interesting!

Advertising tells us that self-care is something we can have delivered in a box for a monthly fee or requires a fancy resort or expensive treatments. I may get my pay cheque from providing those kinds of treatments, but nothing I tell you here is going to cost you a bunch of money, require fancy equipment, or take substantial amounts of time in your already busy day.

We need to fuel our bodies with wholesome food, get adequate sleep to recharge, hydrate, and find happiness where we can.

The following post about water was on Tranquility Day Spa's Facebook post last week, but it's information that bears repeating.

Drink water

Water, H20, Aqua, Eau, Agua

It doesn't matter how you say it, drinking water is the single most useful thing we can do for our bodies.  In massage therapy, any therapeutic application of hot or cold to the body is still called hydrotherapy, because until the discover of electricity, water was the only way to accomplish this. 

Dehydration leads to headaches, muscle cramps, constipation and a poor complexion. If you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.  Some people thrive on numbers, 8 cups, or 2 liters, of water per day. It’s a ballpark number, depending on how physical your work is, the environment you are in, what else we consume, etc. If you drink enough water so that you don’t ever feel thirsty, you are doing well.  

Here are some ideas to sneak water into your day:

Drink a glass while you wait for coffee or tea to brew (let's be realistic, I'm not giving up my morning coffee!)

Drink herbal tea (caffeine is a diuretic, so hot beverages that are decaf still hydrate)

Drink water at meals

Have a glass of water every time you brush your teeth

Drivers – have a swig every time the song changes

Office – have a drink every time you switch clients, files, tasks

Drink a glass while cooking supper

Add some lemon , lime, cucumber, mint, etc. to your water to make it more interesting

Freeze the bottle a 1/3 full the night before to keep the water cold and fresh through the day

Make some iced tea from herbal tea (my favorite is lemon ginger, especially when I have a scratchy throat)

Drink fizzy water

For every alcoholic beverage, have a glass of water (this will also help avoid hangovers - dehydration is a big part of that)

Keep water by your favorite spot on the couch, if its handy we will drink it.

 What do you do to get more water in your day?