Practicing Self-Care As A Writer

How you take care of yourself/practice self-care.

I will be honest when I say that I am like a lot of people that sit at the computer all day, in desperate need of movement. 

The older I get, the more I realize the key to staying, or at least feeling young is flexibility. 

When we first bought our house, I painted every room myself, and after three months, my hand cramped so badly that I couldn’t even turn a doorknob!  Before I considered surgery, I decided to try hot yoga. So I convinced Howie to go with me and at the end of the first class, I knew I’d found a class that was perfect for me. But when I turned to my husband for the first time in our marriage, and he mouthed in the meditation quiet of the yoga room that he hated me, I thought, oh well, I guess this is one thing we won’t be doing together. Oddly enough, when I came out of the one hundred-degree room, Howie was paying for a month-long membership. After two months of this class, I no longer had wrist pain, and still don’t even years later.  Although I no longer have the chance to go as often as I’d like, I have never considered carpal tunnel surgery again.

I know it isn’t for everyone, but I truly believe that whatever you choose to do, if you can find even two to three weeks every six months for what I call a tune-up, you can undo months of damage due to immobility from job stress, help tune into the needs of your body, and turn the clock back a few ticks. 

While I know no one routine works for everyone, I do feel that you don’t have to go to a class and invest hours a day in order to find a way to make things better for your body in the long run. Some of us need motivation a little more than others to get moving but never forget, every bit counts. The only person you are truly competing with is yourself. You will get out what you put in so get up, get out and get shaking! That, to me, is the key to staying young of mind and in body and soul.

S.BEHR