July 15: The unsexiest, best decision I made this week.
I was supposed to get back to writing on Monday.
Two weeks away, and I had things to say.
Ideas stacking up.
Ready to go.
Instead, I got the crud.
Flying home from Naughty in N'awlins on ninety minutes of sleep, my throat started scratching somewhere over Mississippi.
By the time we landed in ATL for our connecting flight, I asked my sweetie to bring masks when he picked us up.
Here's the thing: he leaves today for two weeks in France.
There was no way I was risking his good time for my questionable throat.
So I’ve spent the last two days doing something wildly unglamorous.
I’ve rested.
I’ve canceled things.
I’m saying said no to a gathering I’ve been looking forward to, and pushing it back a week, just to make sure I’m not handing my germs out like party favors.
This morning I woke up with only some sniffles left, and I felt something unexpected: lucky.
Lucky that I could actually rest instead of over-medicating myself into a fake "I'm fine!" and spreading the gift of gross to everyone I love.
Lucky that I listened when my body said slow down, instead of pushing through because I had plans, or people were counting on me, or I didn't want to disappoint anyone.
Is it disappointing to me?
Yes.
I wanted my last day with my sweetie before France to involve considerably less Kleenex and considerably more sexy times.
Instead we're masked up and keeping our distance in the same house, which is its own strange kind of intimacy.
But it was still the right call.
This is the part nobody tells you about self-care.
It's rarely the candle-lit-bath version.
Sometimes it's disappointing people, including yourself.
Sometimes it's the flight home, the sniffle, the hard no to plans you were excited about.
I've built a life where I trust that taking care of myself makes everything else better, my relationships, my work, my ability to actually show up when it counts.
So while my sweetie's in France, I'm doing more of it:
tidying the condo
cooking new things
reading
setting up my new walking desk
seeing friends who fill my cup instead of draining it
Where in your life are you pushing through when your body, or your gut, is asking you to stop?
If you're realizing you don't actually know how to prioritize your own rest without guilt eating you alive, that's a really good place to start a conversation.
Book a free 15-minute Big Ask, and let's talk about what self-care actually looks like for you, in YOUR life, not on Instagram.
https://my.curiouser.life/15-minutes-big-ask
--
Rev Heather, aka Nookie, LUQ
https://my.curiouser.life
+1-855-712-5433 (toll-free)
P.S. What's the most unglamorous form of self-care that you turn to?
Hit reply and tell me. No wrong answers.