Self Care September Week Two: Peace and Positivity

We are half way through September people. What the heck?! Although we are moments away from Fall, the temperature here in Dallas is still well into the mid/high 90s. It was another packed week for me but I am continuing to move forward with my self care process. I wanted to continue to practice what I did the prior week but also include some additions. My mind has been kind of all over the place so I knew what I wanted my main focus to be for week two.

Last weeks focus was really about finding a peace when I feel like there is chaos all around me. Very quickly I knew what I wanted to do to find that peace for the week. One thing that I wanted to do was start reading my Bible again. Just for a little bit about me, like many I grew up in the church. It is something that has been a part of my life all of my life. There have been times where I wasn’t attending church as much as I wanted or should be but God has always been a very important part of my life. Even though God is and has always been important to me, there is a different responsibility I feel now that I am older to seek to grow that relationship.

To be transparent I have never been a reader of the Bible. I own one, yes but never truly dedicated the time to get into the Word for myself. A few months back when things got rocky for me I felt in my spirit that I needed to change this. Between then and now, I fell off from my reading but in those months where I devoted more time to reading I gained a sense of peace. It wasn’t that much changed in my life in the natural because it didn’t. But I felt a sense of calm that I have never experienced before. And honestly sometimes all you need is a source  that pushes you through to the next day. So last week I devoted some time almost every day to reading. I am working through reading it in its entirety. I have never claimed to know it front to back and will never say I will but it feels good to know that even in my little way I am making the effort to find my peace there. Not because it is something I have been taught or told to do but for myself.

Also on the list this week was letting go of the obsession with my blog numbers. This one was difficult. Ever since I started my blog, I have been obsessed with how many views, comments etc. I am getting. It’s really have become a part of an obsessive routine. Wake up, pray, check my numbers. I have been checking every day, multiple times a day. When the numbers aren’t different, I feel some kind of way. I really just needed a break from it all. The numbers mean something to me because I have dreams of growing this. I have to continue to remind myself though that me sharing my experience is beyond who decides to read or not. So I banned myself from checking, and let me tell you the willpower it took! I really wanted to check, and at the beginning of the week it was hard. But as the days went on I started to just focus on how I really just enjoy writing and sharing and that is what is important to me. I felt free of the demand of trying to reach a certain number that I may or may not get to. This blog is and will be good without that validation.

I incorporated personal affirmations into my week. When I got in the mirror at home I said things I loved about myself and things that I believe (or I am trying to believe) about myself. I don’t think we tell ourselves enough what it is that we admire about ourselves. We are so quick to jump to comparing our looks, personalities and lives to others that we don’t really see that the things that we love most about others might just be what we admire about ourselves too. I wanted to also make the effort to choose happiness regardless of my circumstances. There were a few moments in my week that really got me in a funk. I decided instead of claiming to have had a bad day, like I would do typically I noted those times as bad moments. Then I found ways to to find something to make myself laugh or smile. Choosing to have an overall good day that has some rough spots instead of tossing the whole day away due to a few interactions really made for a pretty decent week.

The two P’s: Peace and Positivity. They really summed up my week. I want to continue finding ways to tap into those when I feel like I can just lose it. What are ways you find peace when there is chaos all around you? How do you stay positive when things may be pushing you against the wall? Lets talk! And continue to let me know what you are doing to practice self care this month. Let’s make the most of September!