Wellness Check

I actually haven’t been feeling that ‘well’. I’m not sick or ill, but as far as feeling ‘well’–I’m not there.  Physically, I actually feel like crap and am in need of a major cleanse. There’s more going on here, though.

PHYSICAL WELLNESS: I have been completely out of whack. I was doing SO WELL with my goal to not eat out and I feel as though it fell to the wayside–at least a little bit. There have been some minor distractions to my routine, including being on the go. I can say that I have been making it a point to plan my meals for the week, but I have not resumed meal prepping. The advice given by Coach Chris during our wellness chat last Wednesday was very helpful in making me mindful. Not only did the advice given make the thought of resuming meal prepping achieveable, but it made it realistic.

I felt ready to start the gym, especially following the personal training session. However, when I went to the gym on Sunday with Aiden in tow, I was disappointed to learn that the childcare wasn’t open on Sundays and found my motivation disappearing.  Actually, not disappearing, I felt defeated. It threw me off completely. I was in it and then I wasn’t and needless to say, that feeling is beyond frustrating. I find myself scheduling the specific time in the calendar, but ignoring the alerts for one reason or another.  I can honestly say that the frigid temperatures we experienced in the past week would have been okay for me to step out in, but not for Aiden.

What I am working on: DRINKING WATER. It all starts there. I feel my best when I start the day off with a full glass of water. I have been horrible with my water intake and I FEEL IT.   Getting to the gym within the next week is going to be my priority. I’m not giving them my coins for free.  I am also going to refocus on decreasing my spending on fast food and continuing to make my food at home.

EMOTIONAL WELLNESS: These are the moments when I feel Emotionally Un-Well.  Believe me, I have the skills not only because I practice them everyday with my students, but I also practice being mindful everyday for myself. It grounds me and clears my thoughts.  The past few weeks at work have been exceptionally stressful and this is even more so illustrated by the nightmare I had this week. It was horrifying and work-related. My biggest fear is to miss something with one of my students because I’m so busy juggling other things and that feeling is the worst for a social worker.

What am I working on:  My therapist has been away on vacation and will be gone for at least another week.  Believe me, as soon as she gives me the go ahead, I will be in her office or on video! However, the skills that I teach students, I have to use on myself sometimes.  I actually use some of my sessions with them to focus on myself.  It takes practice. I did a guided mediation with some of my students who have low frustration tolerance and poor anger control and best believe I was actively participating in the process, whether they knew it or not.  It allowed me to leave work feeling restored and ready to embrace the shining sun.

In motherhood specifically, I am working on being mindful of how I respond to Aiden, especially when I am feeling stressed. It’s so easy to yell when your child does something that you don’t want them to.  I’m making more use of timeout for both him and me. Sometimes you just have to walk away. Sometimes you need some fresh air. Sometimes you need a drink of water or to wash your face. Whatever it is that you can do to give yourself a minute break or so, do it.

SPIRITUAL WELLNESS: I have been tapping into a few things actually. I’ve been having morning talks with a new friend who is spiritually attuned. Those conversations have not only propelled my emotional awareness and thinking, but have also contributed to my desire to pick up books and read (and not just listening to audiobooks). I’m looking for a new devotional, so if anyone has any suggestions please share! I’ve been meditating a little more and am aiming to do daily meditations–even if they are only for 3 minutes (the Headspace app really allows you to do this).

ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS: My house has been untidy and it’s driving me crazy. The motivation to clean my kitchen the way I want it to be cleaned, paired with the clutter in my bedroom has sent me to no other place than the couch–where the living room is spotless.

Realistically, walking into the kitchen and seeing dishes is overwhelming for me. It’s a task that I don’t enjoy and often can’t tackle right away because Aiden has been less agreeable to keep the water in the sink.

My car is an entirely different story. It was a HOT MESS. It pretty much looked like a garbage can! I paid my niece and nephew to clean it out because I just couldn’t do it. I actually received a call from my niece midway through the job requesting more than the agreed upon $20 fee per person ($40 total).  I have to give it to them for knowing their hustle.

My goal for my car is to take garbage out as I’m leaving my car, so there is no accumulation whatsoever.

OCCUPATIONAL WELLNESS: My personal satisfaction in my work is expanding and guess what, that also comes from the work I’m putting into providing content for my readers! Despite the challenging times I have at my job, it is beyond rewarding to see the growth of my students even in such a short amount of time.

The point of all of this is to not just spell out the successes, but to also share with you all when I’m experiencing challenges so we can all learn better ways to manage them.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to tap into each of the 8 dimensions and share my focus with you all, but until then please tune into my Wellness Wednesday Chat!

Thank you for reading!

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