The type of self-care no one talks about

Every night Abigail walked into a cluttered house. Daily mail piled high on the kitchen island. She thought, one day, I’ll go paperless. This constant stream of paper every where distracted her every time she looked through the room. There was no sense of peace in coming home from a long day when this made her even more restless.

She pulled the plastic off a microwave dinner while chuckling to herself, nothing beats an already cooked chicken and macaroni and cheese dinner with ingredients I can’t even pronounce. As she ate, the bloating came on quick and her mouth dried up from an overly salty meal, maybe one day, I’ll get healthy. She quickly unzipped her pants to let her belly expand.

Even only if, Abigail had the energy to workout. Then, maybe then, she’d stop buying new clothes for her 5 pound weight gain every 3 months. Her closet was exploding with clothes in various sizes. With little time to organize, clothes that no longer fit were thrown into the back of the closet.

Friday rolled around and with no energy she turned on the TV for some mindless activity. Out of nowhere, the loud, high pitched commercial woke her up. Abigail turned into a trance as the commercial spoke only to her.

Across the screen “SYSTEMS….SYSTEMS give you freedom.”

A light bulb went off in Abigail’s head. Her mind started racing. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the back of an unopened piece of mail and started scribbling on the back.

She thought, YES!

A system to go paperless.

A system to organize the closet.

A system to get healthy meals delivered weekly.

It’s time to hire a housekeeper, she blurted out at the top of her lungs! Yes! Yes! How come I never thought of this earlier. She tried to not beat herself up and stay in this new sense of resilence. Three hours of her personal time back time was worth way more than a housekeeper would ever cost.

Every month, she created a new system to get healthy and organized.

Bit by bit, she felt a renewed sense of energy. Her house went from an almost hoarding appearance to clean, refreshed, and simple. And, with simple eating choice changes, Abigail started losing weight without even exercising. Her confidence grew as did her energy levels.

Self-care is more than bubble baths and massages. Taking responsibility for how you truly want to live is self-care. Some of you complain about the “maintenance” tasks. Yet, if you flip your perspective, you can recognize that these so called “Adulting” activities is what gives you the freedom and energy to live and pursue life on your terms.

Companies scale and grow because they have systems in place. Want to be more and do more? Get your own systems in place.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Chinese Proverb

Wishing you an abundant, joyful and prosperous day!