More apples for you

Last week, we talked about the value of preserving 15 minutes a day for some sort of loving self-care.  This is based on the premise of a little effort and self-kindness now yields big rewards and protections against stress down the line.

So, instead of an apple a day keeps the doctor away, we can think instead of emotional “apples” in the form of kindness, self-care, and stress management, and trade therapists or crisis or burnout for doctors.  (Truth be told, stress has a funny way of talking through our bodies, too, so these practices may indeed spare you from frequent doctor’s visits, as well.)

With all that in mind, I’d like to offer a few more tips and ideas to help you along the way in finding the right “apple” for you.

Stress management, assertiveness training, healthy self-esteem, good emotional hygiene—these skills may be talked about a lot, but many people find them hard to put into practice.  The fact is, many of us never learned about the value of stress management or self-care until we were on the others side of a bad episode of burnout.  By that point, we were not in a good position to learn a new skill and yet we desperately needed to get back on our feet.  So, let’s consider the humble alternative of being proactive rather than reactive.

Can you think of anyone in your life who is especially good at taking good care of themselves?  How do you feel towards this person?

If you feel a twinge of resentment or jealousy, or a kind of admiring longing when you think of that person and their practices, this suggests that your own appetites for good self-care aren’t being met.  Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy remedy to this.

Let’s take a trip to the grocery store and explore your apple options.

Standing in the produce aisle at your local grocery store can be a bit overwhelming.  All those carefully arranged, glossy fruits, the different prices.  These apples are good for baking, these are good for snacks.

The bottom line:  you have a lot of choice when it comes to taking good care of yourself.  This is good because things change.  Something that satisfies your appetites now may not offer the same nourishment later.  So, don’t be afraid to change up your routines and select a variety of apples.

Here are a few guidelines for your produce selection:

1.)     Reserve.  “I don’t have time.”  You need to reserve time for your apple, whether it is a fixed ritual in your day or something you incorporate more flexibly into your schedule.

2.)     Persist.  “It’s too expensive.”  Don’t talk yourself out of this opportunity.  If your mind starts thinking about costs, think about the difference in costs between an office visit and a surgery.  Time invested in yourself now pays big dividends later, both in quality of life and effort saved in the long run.

3.)     Repeat.  “This isn’t helping.”  Please give your apple more than a day or a week.  See if you can try it for a month.  It’s only 15 minutes, after all.  If you can’t spare 15 minutes in your schedule, we need to talk.

Need some more ideas?  Here are some of my favorite apples:

Brewing a pot of loose leaf tea, then pouring over ice to enjoy

A yoga class, or even a few minutes in child’s pose midday

An hour long lunch break (read more about it here)

Enjoying a few pages of well-worn, favorite book

Listening to a relaxation CD for fifteen minutes

Burning a stick of incense or a scented candle to brighten my mood

I hope you embrace the opportunity to incorporate a little more warmth and wellness into your everyday.