My Month in Self-Care: Week #2

July 8th 2018

Self-care is harder than it seems…

With the first week of July coming to a close, it is time for me to follow up on my first week’s goals and realization. If you haven’t read my first post, introducing my month in self-care and sharing initial goals, click here.

First, I want to go through the goals I set last week and see what I have accomplished and any feedback I had on my goals in relation to my mood and well-being.

• Write whenever I feel inspired and try to get a jump on scheduling for July- I hate to say that I didn’t get too far ahead in scheduling, but I did finish planning out my blogging schedule for the entire month and half of August.
• Take some time to read at night before bed at least twice this week, even if it’s only a few minutes- I was able to make time to read a little one night, but did allow myself some time to watch movies and TV shows that I usually don’t give myself much time to enjoy.
• Put on makeup a few days this week, dress and present myself well for myself and no one else- I put makeup on on some days but not as much as I would have liked to since I was sick for a majority of the week. I plan to continue this goal throughout the month.
• Keep active. Kick butt in the July Beach Challenge on my Samsung Health app- The weather wasn’t that great this week but I did manage to get a decent amount of steps in on the 4th of July while looking for fireworks to watch. Otherwise, I have the whole month to hopefully get on track.
• Don’t cave to junk food or snacks. Stick to eating clean and nourishing my body like it deserves- I’ve been trying to make good choices and haven’t been snacking as much, but I have also allowed myself some cheat time with the 4th being this past week.

Overall, the beginning of the month was off to a rather shaky start, mostly because being sick sort of through my plans off. However, I am beginning to feel better and I will hopefully be ready to jump back into working out and hitting some goals within the next week.

Despite not hitting some of the goals I set, I did manage to do a few good things for myself this past week. For one, I had friends over for the 4th of July which is a big thing for me because I am never really confident enough to have friends over without getting super stressed about making everything perfect. I would say everyone had a pretty good time though, so I would consider it a success.

I also went to the movies with one of my best friends and I finally got to see Incredibles 2. I deny myself trips to the movies a lot because they are pricey, but in the spirit of self-care, I let myself have a little fun and see a movie that was 14 years in the making. I also allowed myself to spend a bit of money to go out to see a psychic with my dad. We have done it a couple of times before, but it has been a while so I helped treat him for his birthday.

Lastly, I got a ton of cleaning done. I feel like cleaning my space is a super important form of mental self-care and actual physical self-care. I dusted, cleaned out most of my drawers and both of my closet, and donated tons of old clothes that no longer suited my personal style. I still have a bit more cleaning, but I am already finding it way easier to get ready in the morning with everything tidied up.

So now, I want to talk a little about my goals for the upcoming week:

1. Leave my work at work this week. I have a busy week coming up in the office and I need to let myself leave the work at work and enjoy some life after.
2. Spend more time outside. Even if it is just sitting outside in the backyard for a little bit, I need some fresh air and sunshine to keep me going.
3. Research some good plants to buy. Plants help bring life to a space, so I want to find ones that will thrive in my space since the direct sunlight can be a bit limited.
4. Catch up with an old friend. Sometimes a change of pace can do me some good.
5. Spend some time on Pinterest. I love making inspo boards for everything from colors I like to trips I want to take to home decor.

Here’s to another week of self-care~

Jess~