When you don’t have a reset button, sometimes the off button will work better than anything else! Shut it off!!
I’m feeling that today. I was feeling in the dark for a reset button, but I couldn’t find one! So I just...yeah, turned it off! I’ll be 49 in 11 days, and sometimes people think we should be 25 in our actions. I’m not! I am not the age of my children! In fact, my oldest is older than 25 himself. If you don’t walk away and take care of yourself FOR yourself, you won’t be the best version of yourself and you’ll end up struggling to be the worst version of some other ‘pretender.’ You’ll get it in a minute.
I was walking across campus yesterday and the head guy over the fitness area stopped and started talking to me. I was in the cool air but my body was drenched and I was so hot inside. He said, “Maybe you need to get back in shape.” I’m looking at him like, “Maybe you should mind your business and stop telling the truth!” Lol. Mind you, we’ve known each other for more than 20 years, but not like that; but I wasn't offended because, for one, he was telling the truth. Second, as I said, we've known each other for a long time.
Let me tell you this... his statement stuck with me all day, night, and into this morning. He took all excuses away because I didn’t have anymore that was good enough to take precedence over my life! He had a solution for everything that I even thought of as a ‘good’ problem.
Here’s the deal. He showed me that I could no longer use anything that was IMPORTANT ENOUGH to take the place of my health! 😲 Our jobs don’t give us 'health' days, so sometimes we have to be bold enough to take one here and there. They are called sick days because you’re preventing sickness. Wow! I wish I had seen this before but I wasn’t ready! I could receive what he was saying because my mind and heart were ready, so his truth convicted me.
We don’t get a chance to stay home and enjoy the things that we work so hard to pay for, like our homes and the things therein! Take a health day! Take an awareness day! Build your time up, use the time that has been earned, be the best that you can be at work, and give others what you know they need; therefore, you will be okay when you make a decision to take care of yourself. Women are really quick to feel guilty (I know I am), so we must stop that game that we play with ourselves that we are already defeated at before it ever starts. It’s not helping anyone, but hurting everyone—especially us.
Just because others benefit from your sacrifices of doing things when you should be taking care of yourself, it’s not helping them. Why? It teaches them how to have expectations of who you should be and not who you are. Teach people how to treat you! Teach yourself how to treat you!
Remember, however you decide to take a wellness day, make sure it's befitting to your needs. Sometimes going to the gym or a specialized class like yoga is the best thing to do, and another time might be to simply sleep in for the day.
So, stop, regroup and reset! You’ll be glad you did!
Be blessed!
Lady Angel Carr