As January comes to a close I’m curious – how are you doing on those goals and resolutions you listed back at the beginning of the month. For me, one of my big goals is around making myself a priority which has included looking at how I take care of myself. It’s been an interesting process and I’ve been learning a lot that I didn’t expect.
The hard truth is, I’ve been only half-hearted about going for the things I do for myself. Have you ever experienced this? I’ve made some progress on many fronts and on many goals but have I truly made them and me a priority? Over the last several weeks I’ve found myself wondering… am I consistently making choices that make me happy? Am I choosing to spend my time in a way that supports my dreams?
The answer is not very often.
I need to start caring for myself at least as well as I care for my family. If you follow my blog (www.rachelkenley.net/blog ) or my social media posts (www.facebook.com/rachelkenley and @rona.writes.as.rachel on Instagram), you know that I’ve been thinking a lot about self-compassion and self-acceptance.
When I thought about self-care I realized that compassion and acceptance were part of that overall process – much more important in many ways than manicures or long hot baths, things that tend to top the list of to-do’s when it comes to self-care for women. Deeper self-care needed to be about how I was “being” with myself, not doing.
And that’s how the acronym you see in the title came about. As I was doing my morning pages (any Artist Way followers out there?) I was suddenly struck by the fact that the word CARE could be seen as being made up of four very important pieces:
C – compassion
A – acceptance
R – respect
E – encouragement
I know that when I find a way to give myself those four things on a regular basis (which I’m definitely not doing yet), I will be truly giving myself the kind of self-care that can make a long term difference in what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.
So, that’s my big goal for January – to create a habit and a practice of self-c.a.r.e. which includes all of these aspects. In the coming weeks I’ll be blogging on each one of them individually along with writing about how my learning process is going. I don’t expect it to be smooth or even consistent. As lovely as self-care may be – it is currently out of my comfort zone which means my brain, always wanting me to be safe, is going to try to fight against this change. I’m hoping that awareness and a strong desire to have more of all of these things in my life will be enough to push through any resistance I feel.
I’d love for you to join me on this journey. Let me know how you practice taking care of yourself. How any of these four things show up or are lacking in your life. Where do you need more C.A.R.E.?
If you want to see how this process has been for me – head over to www.rachelkenley.net/blog for some additional personal insights and perhaps some ideas for ways you can support your own care.