Caretaking, Fitness & Self Care
Recently I have gone thru a significant shift from being pretty damn good at taking care of myself to being a caretaker for several loved ones and feeling like I'm not doing it right.
I’m new at this, but I discovered what people with small children and aging parents, already know:
-Your leisure and self-care time will vanish.
-Your fitness regime will go to crap.
-Something will always come up.
Recently I actually realized that fitness was one of my leisure hobbies (A duh right?).
My hobby, however, proves to be quite efficient and effective.
It maintains my weight, my sanity, strengthens my muscles and bones, lifts my mood, significantly reduces my risk of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Yah exercise!
The problem with my multipurpose hobby is it takes up time, sometimes a lot, sometimes more then I like to admit. My leisurely process doesn’t work well if things outside of my control pop up like a hospital visit. Plus, doctor visits are rarely just the promised hour I diligently put into my Google calendar. As I struggle to play catch up with my list of tasks for the day, I also realize that supporting someone is more than just crossing off a list of to-dos. You are negotiating with another human, and they got an agenda (and feelings) too. Don’t believe me? Try to beat out the time clock while reasoning with a two-year-old that is throwing a temper tantrum over play time, I’ve seen it, it’s not pretty, and no one wins.
Thus you are forced to trade in your carefully laid plans for a pile of wishes and hope that your goals appear.
NO.
It will, however, take a few new techniques to get you over the hump.
-Have a short version of your long plan.
-Be flexible.
-Bank your time.
Having a long plan is stellar, it makes me feel good to work out for an extended time, stretching and then later meditating clearing my head, getting focused, writing down my feelings slurping down a kale shake… The extended plan has no problems, life just keeps getting in the way. This is why I adore working out on vacation but since the day to day life of a caretaker is no vacation you gotta keep the engine running with a short plan.
My short plan takes 30 minutes. I feel like no matter what random monkey wrench life throws at me I should be able to protect 30 min for me. If you feel like you can’t even manage that for some self-care, then there may be some other issues you need to address. I take twenty minutes for writing, meditation, and gratitude, along with five minutes devoted to the day's task planning and 5 minutes to work out. This is my bare minimum. From this, I get some piece of mind, and even though the workout is extremely short, it helps to maintain my strength and some stamina for when I can get up a good sweat later. Probably the single most important thing all of this contributes to is to keep a healthy habit, at the forefront and serve as a symbol to my commitment to keep trying rather than just scrapping it altogether.
While I would hope going from a 2+ hour "me time" to 30 min is sufficient, plenty of times it isn't. Thus, I also gotta stay flexible. Being nimble is key. These activities for me are best done in a morning block, but there are plenty of early morning appts or random emergency calls that warrant a quick tooth brushing and jetting out the door. On these occasions finding or making 10 min blocks of time throughout the day to chip at the bar I have set have been my saving grace. Pro-Tip, think you don't have 10 min? You can get a lot done in the bathroom, just saying.
Banking your time/prepping is a big one, any time you save on prep is time you can use later. Finding little ways of shaving off a second to get you to your next task or eliminate thought when you are short on time and mental energy can be invaluable. For example, when I do my laundry, I separate my gym clothes into full outfit sets (tights, panties, socks, sports bra, tank top, headband, towel) and keep them stored together. If there is a fire or a window of opportunity I can be fully dressed to sweat in minutes.
The number one way to make some serious gains is to change your attitude.
You can't carry around a mindset that doesn't allow for a 5 min workout you will die a thousand deaths that way. You must not dwell on what you can't do and focus on what you can and move the hell on. Give yourself a pass and permission to start small and get good at that. This is how all types of training works. This is a new type of load, and your body and mind need to adjust to that, but you still need to take care of you first.
Marika
Freaking out, figuring it out, Making mistakes and winning small battles.
The little things you do, DO count so do something.