I’ve been working on developing my self-care checklist for a few days, inspired by Julia Cameron’s advice/bit o’wisdom: “Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong.”
I believe the reason this is true is because we need to develop self-love to initiate meaningful action (and just meaning) in our lives, and the idea of loving ourselves feels so alien and unnatural that reaching it through tangible behaviors, kind and gentle gestures toward ourselves, is a more pragmatic way in. We’re naturally inclined to love what we take care of. You should have seen how wild I was about my (now dead) basil plant last summer. And I’m a fan of all cats, but I can’t say I love them all the way I do the ornery beast I feed and force-cuddle every day.
So in an attempt to force-cuddle myself into self love, I am developing a self-care checklist to make it more likely that I treat myself like a precious object.
I put two immediate things on my list. Both were also on my 18 for 2018 list inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s “Happier” podcast, and both are super easy, free and somehow elusive: Stretch and moisturize.
These are such small things that I can’t believe I’m not already doing both religiously every day, especially since both have feel good/look good benefits. Stretch and moisturize. Doing both twice a day would probably take 5 minutes total.
I’m brainstorming other little behaviors and gestures I can easily fit into my schedule and try to make regular habits. But it’s easy for me to get overexcited and create a list with 45 things on it then get overwhelmed and give up before I start. So I’m taking my time with my self-care checklist by beginning with the loving gesture of setting myself up for success. This is supposed to be fun. Self-beratement is so 2018.