Taking Care of Me

At one point this week when I was feeling quite frazzled and worn out and worried about my newly diagnosed friend with MS, a dear and wise friend (you know who you are!) told me:

I hope you make certain to take good care of yourself - especially right now when your friend is going through so much turmoil....To help her best, you need to make sure you take care of yourself...This is a long haul process  (making it even more important for you to take care of yourself so that you can be there for the long haul).

Her words really hit home, and I took her excellent advice.  I stayed in that evening - by myself - and ate a simple egg dinner (I love eggs) and watched a wonderful, girl-y movie while lying on the couch.  It all felt so decadent, doing things just for me and not letting all the need-to-dos in my head escape and taunt me.  It was just what I needed, and I don't know why I can never seem to remember this simple advice when I am feeling so drained and wiped out.

I suppose some of the problem is simply being a woman - we just naturally feel as if we need to take care of everyone around us, and it's easy to forget our own needs.  And some of the problem is uniquely mine - despite all of the positive life lessons CFS has taught me (to slow down, to drop the perfectionism, etc.), I still tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything and get everything done.  It seems I am destined to keep re-learning this lesson over and over and over again.

Overall, this has been a good week for me, a rejuvenating week with the kids away and Ken away much of the week as well.  It is truly amazing to me how easy it is to take care of a household of just one person!  I've only run the dishwasher once since Sunday and haven't done a single load of laundry all week.  The cleaning service was here a week ago, and the floor is still clean!  I went grocery shopping on Monday and was done in 10 minutes (astounding).  I found that cooking for myself only was so simple, and I tended to a lighter, more vegetarian diet (why buy a whole package of meat for one person?). 

Of course, as I do every year during this brief respite, I didn't get nearly as much done as I expected to.  For some reason, I assume being alone in the house will turn me into a productive hurricane of activity, somehow forgetting that my pace of life now doesn't leave much time or energy for actual work.  But, in the end, it turned out to be a nice balance between productivity and relaxing and between some much-needed social interaction and even-more-needed alone time.

And now this little pocket of quiet is coming to an end...just as I was getting the hang of it!  We will go to pick up the kids tomorrow, and life will return to its noisy, chaotic standard.  I'm sure the kids will be exhausted from their week with Gramie & Pop Pop, so I'm looking forward to relaxing with them on Sunday and enjoying some favorite shows together (the first season of Glee finally came in at the library - I can't wait!).

And this time, I swear I will remember to take care of myself.  No, really!  Well, if I forget, perhaps you can remind me.  And I will remind you - take care of yourself or you'll be no good to anyone else.  Enjoy the weekend!