Self-Care in Seasons

Self-care does not look the same every day or every week. At least mine sure as hell doesn't.

For a long while, it was walking or working out every day and more recently working in my garden. Sometimes it's a clean house, and let me tell you, that one counts as self care... my mood is directly correlated to how much crap is on my kitchen counter. This past week, I finally was brave enough to attempt homemade cinnamon rolls again (last time was an epic failure), and started a new way microgreens batch, while juggling getting little people ready for homecoming and not losing my mind trying to figure out "themed outfits".

Same lady. Completely different version of taking care of myself.

Strangely, one habit I've built that keeps it all from falling apart: a 20 minute morning routine. When the kids are gone, I pick up everything off the floor and send out Vac Efron (our Roborock vacuum/mop, and easily the best money I've ever spent). Then I wipe the counters, switch the laundry, unload and load the dishwasher (yes, we do at least 1-2 loads a day here too), and get myself the biggest cup of coffee to head downstairs to work.

It's not glamorous, but if I skip it, it pushes everything else behind. And my focus stays in the mess and task list of laundry, dishes, floors, etc. etc. etc. instead of what I really need to be focusing on for work that day. And sometimes it's just straight chaos in the morning... I'm talking an entire bag of cereal on the floor, courtesy of Colton, while Harleigh and Donovan fight me on getting dressed and fist fight each other.

So that routine is my anchor. Everything else rotates around it.

And I will be the first to tell you that nutrition and wellness still matter to me. I want to work out. I want to eat well and feed my family healthy foods. Some weeks that happens the way I planned... and some weeks it doesn't. When you have a family of seven, something always has to give. What I refuse to do is call it failure when things aren't as consistent as they "should be".

I'm moving my body chasing after kids. I can count a scoop of peanut butter as protein. And I can count bending down to get all the crap off the floor for Vac Efron to do its thing as squats, right? I'm stretching my mind by giving myself the courage to try those damn cinnamon rolls again. And I know when I need to be creative and fuel my mind in a different way.

Sometimes that looks like learning something isn't for me (see the sourdough starter/failure). Sometimes it's not killing my microgreens growing in the basement storage room. It's finally getting my cinnamon rolls to rise correctly and actually taste good. It makes me proud of myself, it fuels my creativity, and it gives me an outlet that's just mine.

Baked! And my little helpers helped frost, payment was a fresh roll.

Full disclosure: my self-care looked very different last weekend than it during the week. Everyone was home, the schedule went out the window, and I forgot to feed my sourdough starter. If you've never smelled a neglected starter... I'm sorry for what's ahead of you. It's disgusting. Maybe another time... I apparently didn't need one more thing to feed, and that's okay.

That's the season I was in. The starter didn't survive, but other things that matter, did.

So if your self-care looks different this week than last week, you're not inconsistent. You're in a new season. Keep the anchor, let the rest rotate, and give yourself some credit.