What I Learned Doing The 2013 Self-Care Challenge

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Each time I do the self-care challenge (this is my third year) I learn something new about myself. This year was actually harder than previous years. Maybe it’s just that I’m at the end of the school journey or I’m just extra tired from the holiday season but I was drained, energy-wise and it was harder for me to keep up with the challenges.

But I forced myself to do each challenge because it had been a while since I just focused on me and my well-being. I give my all to my family every day and too often I give myself the scraps. And sometimes I don’t mind. When I fall into bed at night, exhausted, I consider that a mark of a day well lived. It only becomes a problem when for too many days in a row, I’m last on the list. I don’t get out of the house and get some alone time, I eat like crap, I’m too exhausted to work out or try to look cute.

So it’s great to do this challenge once a year and get renewed and feel more like yourself again. But what happens three months from now or six months from now? What then?

I’m challenging us to one last exercise – let’s pick one day a month where we do our best to tend to our needs all day long. For some of us, that might seem like too  much but if you think about it, it’s just twelve days a year where you decide to put yourself first. Are you with me? I hope so!

Thank you to all of you who participated in this year’s challenge! Don’t forget – you’ll be entered to win a $25 Visa gift card if you comment on each of the posts of the self-care challenge. Here’s the link if you missed any: http://bit.ly/XunwAE

Comments

  1. This challenge has been interesting for me for a few reasons 1) Im a single mother who 2) lives 4 hours away from my entire family and 3) when I relocated I found out within 2 weeks I was pregnant so my entire life was turned upside down and I never really got to explore the city or meet new people. Through this challenge I was reinforced in some of the things I have chosen to do as a parent but also realized that although I like a small circle of people around me I REALLY needed to expand my wings a bit and find a few close friends beyond my blood relatives. One of the posts really caused me to think about also allowing my daughter to expand her wings and go because at times I definitely can be overbearing/sheltering of her…. in some ways because its only me and her she is somewhat becoming my best friend which I think could become very unhealthy very quickly. Tara you have definitely sparked a fire in me to make some personal changes through self reflection and I thank you for that.

    • @Tamaira – Well I’m glad you took this challenge with me. Sometimes we get so engrossed in our families that the years tick by and we’re like, “What happened? Where are we?” You’ve given me a lot to think about as well!!

  2. I’m really grateful I came across this challenge :). I looked forward to reading the next challenge and just had fun with it!

    Thanks to everyone who shared ther experiences over the last few weeks!

  3. 12 days a year is hopefully doable for most.