Are You Looking After Yourself?

I’ve asked myself that question a few times over the past few weeks.

In my extended family, it’s a line that’s sometimes bandied about, a pop-culture reference to an ad that ran here in Australia a few years ago. A young woman has moved out of home and her concerned father rings to ask ‘Are you looking after yourself’? She rolls her eyes, sticks her fork into the advertised microwaved freezer meal (TV dinner), and says ‘Yes Dad, I am looking after myself’.

No, I’m not at the point of tucking into a freezer meal, but I sure ain’t been looking after myself in the way that I should.

I’ve been burning the midnight oil for a few too many weeks, absorbed in the process of giving birth to my latest baby: a fantastic raw-food recipe book for children. I’ve been testing, re-testing, ditching ideas, dreaming up new ideas and toiling over a hot keyboard. The book just has to be edited, illustrated and designed, and it will make its way out into the world – hopefully to touch the lives of children in a profound way.

But all that giving has taken its toll – like Monique, I tend to be somewhat single-minded when I have a project on the go. I let slip many of those self-nurturing habits that we all know need to be maintained. And now I’m feeling just a wee bit burned out. A 24-hour sleeping stint might just about balance out the sleep debt…

Do you find that, too? Do you give so much to an exhilarating project that you “forget” many of your usual self-care habits in your quest to reach completion?

I heard recently about the concept of extreme self-care. “How indulgent!”, I thought. I dismissed the idea entirely, wondering how people could be selfish enough to justify giving that much to themselves. But, gee, it makes sense. I could actually be enough more productive, even happier, even more “there” for my girls if I actually made my self-care a priority, instead of an “I’ll fit it in when I just finish this…”-type thing.

So, baby steps. Tonight, to bed at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow, maybe a long bath. (“What?” Monkey Mind rebels at this one.) Next week, perhaps 100% raw for, say, five days – although, does “raw” chocolate count?

For a change, I might just be able to answer an emphatic “yes” to the “Are you looking after yourself?” question. Imagine that!
 

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