Take Care of Yourself

Welcome to Day 19 of 31 Ways to Embrace Lopsided Living!

1019-take-care-of-yourselfThis is the post where I tell you to do what I say, not what I do. Because, honestly, I am awful at this. Especially right now when I’m frantically working to finish my manuscript. I told a friend last night, “I’m basically running on coffee and chocolate.” The worst part is, this was in a conversation we were having about going to the gym.

So, yeah, seriously, I’m not here to judge or lecture.

But I can’t really write about living the life God has for us without sharing how important it is for us to take care of ourselves physically.

{Also, for those who remember that I had a heart attack in 2014, let me assure you, I’m not always so hard on my body and I do force myself to the gym.}

And this leads me to today’s topic:

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Of course, I’d love to be super skinny, super fit, and really love all the super foods. But the reality is, I’m none of those. And I’m like 99.999999% sure I never will be. {Unless somehow Reese’s Cups become a super food. Then I could achieve one out of three.}

So, when I say take care of yourself, I am talking less about specific workouts or diets and more about a general attitude of healthy living. Now that we have that all cleared up, let’s get down to some specifics, mmkay?

Since we’ve been talking about being busy for the past couple of days, I want to share five simple ideas for taking care of yourself even during the busiest seasons. Ready?

Five simple ways to take care of yourself. Doable, practical ideas you can use even during the busiest seasons. #LopsidedLiving

  1. Drink enough water. Health experts recommend eight 8-ounce glasses per day which is roughly a half a gallon. I’ll be honest, I usually manage more like 48 ounces a day (which is 6 glasses instead of 8). But when I aim for the full amount I do a lot better than when I don’t set a goal for myself.
  2. 10,000 steps a day. Because writing is essentially a “rear end in the chair” sort of job, this one hasn’t been easy for me to reach lately. In fact, I sort of quit wearing my Jawbone because it was so depressing to see how far away from 10,000 steps I was. But, I will tell you, making a point to move really does help you feel better. {So, yeah, I charged the Jawbone last night so I could start wearing it again today. I even set the alarms to go off if I don’t move every hour.}
  3. Get enough rest. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep for adults ages 25 to 64.  Y’all, I’m an 8-hours of sleep to be at my best kind of girl. I usually aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. I know, I can hear you already, “There’s no way I’m getting that much sleep.” So how about this little bit of good news — naps are another way to give our bodies the rest we need to stay healthy.  If you know you aren’t getting enough sleep at night, experts say a 15 to 90 minute daytime nap can be as restorative as a good night’s sleep. {Michael Hyatt has written a great post on this topic.}
  4. Laugh! Seriously. Watch the crazy at videos on YouTube. This article on the Mayo Clinic’s site explains laughter not only relieves stress but can also have physical health benefits such as increasing oxygen intake for our organs.
  5. Take a deep breath. Seriously. Deep breathing has been proven to help alleviate stress and can even be factor in lowering blood pressure. Your mom wasn’t kidding when she said, “Take a breath and count to ten.” It works! {Read this article from Harvard Health for more information and specifics on how to develop the habit of deep breathing.}

Now, lest you think I’m piling more onto your already full plate, let’s get to today’s challenge:

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FIVE SUGGESTIONS ABOVE AND GIVE IT AN HONEST EFFORT FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK.

You may not make it to 10,000 steps a day by Saturday but I bet you’ll find you take more steps when you’re counting. Or if you choose to drink more water, an increase from no water to 16 ounces is progress.  And remember, one of the best things about Lopsided Living is the focus on progress over perfection

5 simple ideas for taking care of yourself, even when you're busy. #LivingLopsided Click To Tweet

Me? Oh I’ll be working on the water and the movement. I figure if I increase my water intake, it will also increase my daily steps since I’ll be heading to the potty more. So may as well kill two birds with one stone, right?

Living lopsided,

Teri Lynne

Yesterday’s post: Living Lopsided When You’re Busy

Coming tomorrow: We can do something instead of everything.

Index to every post in this series here.

Read the Psalms this summer with Scripture Dig!

Comments

  1. I do pretty good about drinking my water and getting to bed at a decent time so I can get my 7-8 hours of sleep, but as a blogger, my buns sit in a chair a LOT. (Like you said)
    I know that’s the thing I need to work on the most right now. Now to implement… Thanks for another thought provoking post-

  2. Hello Teri, It’s obvious that we can’t find time for our self in our busy schedule. All your tips are very helpful. From now I will start drink more water for my health. Thanks for the idea.

    • Cindy, I am so glad you found these ideas helpful. It is hard to make time for ourselves but sometimes it’s absolutely the most important thing we need to do!
      And simple things like drinking more water are often just the impetus we need to make other, more substantial changes.

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