Caring for the caregiver

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  I Corinthians 3:16

image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Six

That’s the number of weeks that I’ve been sick with a cold, laryngitis, sinus infections, and a horrible cough.

Six

That’s the number of weeks since I’ve exercised.

Two

That’s the number of times I’ve visited the doctor over the last few weeks.  I won’t even give you the number for the amount of medications I’m having to take!

 

I promise that this is not going to become a pity party post.  Before I even got sick, I all ready had this post in my mind.  You see, this mom sometimes get so caught up in taking care of others that sometimes (ok, often) this mom tends to neglect herself.  I don’t even have to be sick to “forget” to take care of myself.  Like I said, I had this post planned months ago and that was before I became sick.

And you don’t even have to be a mom to be like this.  I think women with our nurturing natures tend to put ourselves kind of low on the priority list.  We are designed to help and care for others.  These things are good things.

The problem starts when we completely forget about taking care of ourselves. 

And when I start down that road of being too busy to eat well, exercise, or nurture my own soul & mind, things can get bad.  I usually get really sick…so sick that I am forced to slow down, eat well, and…well, usually I can’t exercise.  And I start to see that I should have been doing these things the whole time! 

It seems every time I get this sickly, I hear those words posted above about us being the temple of God.  I realize that I’ve failed to care for His temple.  God’s temple deserves to be cared for.  It needs to be focused on daily.  How in the world will God’s temple fulfill His work and purpose if it is not in good health and able bodied? 

How will I care for my family, our house, my friends, my neighbors, etc if my body is not in working order?

These past six weeks, I have seen the answer to that question and it ain’t pretty!

My goal for the month of July is to make taking care of myself a priority.  Every day I will set aside time to exercise.  I will eat healthy foods.  And I will nurture my soul and my mind, even if only for ten minutes of the day.

I’m not going to neglect my family, house, friends, neighbors, or ministries.  I’m just going to be sure to focus on daily doing healthy things for myself.

Surely, I can find 30 (or even 20) minutes a day to exercise.  And surely, I can make sure that my meals are healthy and resist the urge to drink that calorie-laden soda.  I know I can even find time in my day to spend time with God to nurture my soul and maybe even 10 or so minutes to do something I just love like blogging or sewing. 

And I will not feel guilty about it!  I will not feel guilty for carving out time and prioritizing caring for my body, my soul, and my mind.  (That’s a note for myself!  Listen up, self!)

So I’m going to baby step into this.  I’m going to focus this week on exercise.  I’ve planned ahead what exercises will be done on what day so there will be no excuses.  Here is a calendar of exercise that I plan to do for the month of July:

  planned exercise for July ~ will change color on days of actual exercise (You can click to enlarge)

Goals for week one of July:

• To exercise five times a week – mainly walking this week.  Then next week, I will try to add in strength exercises again. 
• Using a calendar, plan all exercise for the month of July.  Post on blog for accountability. 
• Make it a family affair – get the family to walk in the evenings. 

And this video might encourage you to find those 30 minutes everyday.  I know it sure encouraged me!

 

Next week, I’ll focus on eating well!

Ok, ladies…anyone up to the challenge of taking care of ourselves this month?  If you’d like to join along with me, please leave a comment and let me know what you’ll be doing this week!