Self-Care while under stress.

Well a lot's been going on. I'm tired, slightly crabby and a bit anti-social. As a result of not striving to take awesome care of myself like I normally do, I have experienced blood sugar swings, swelling in my feet, chronic neck/shoulder pain and noticable bags under my eyes. Going through stressful times can make you put self-care on the back burner. But when you have chronic diseases, that's never a good idea.

So starting tomorrow, I've set a goal of getting myself back on track. Eating regularly, eating healthy food, hydrating myself with lots and lots of water, and the hardest- trying to get more sleep every night. Between blood sugar swings, CGM and pod alarms, high anxiety, and oh- a dog that clearly has her days and nights mixed up right now- I don't think I've slept more than 2 or 3 hours straight in several weeks. I'm waking or getting up 4+ times a night. Then my alarm goes off at 5am and it's time to get up for work and I'm dragging.

So tomorrow I won't be working (my first Saturday I haven't worked in a long time) and I won't be putting much on the schedule. I was planning to drive over to the Minneapolis Diabetes Expo, but I'm so dang tired that the thought of walking around the Expo all day exhausts me. And my feet hurt, A LOT, because I am a person who incessantly paces when I talk on the phone and I've been on the phone A LOT lately. So instead, I put sleeping in (as late as my dog will let me)and catching up on non-medical related reading on tomorrow's agenda. And a scheduled oil change for my car in the afternoon. And that's it. Weather pending, I'm going to sit on my deck, drink tea, read and watch the leaves fall from the trees. Phone off for a few hours. Just me, the dog, and nature.

When things are stressful, I've noticed that with most people what gets neglected is self-care. But long after the stressful event is over, you will have to live with the consequences of not taking care of yourself. I've always been a big fan of Martha Stewart and when I saw she had a new book out, Living the Good Long Life- A practical Guide to caring for yourself and others- I bought it. It was kind of expensive and if I had the patience I would have ordered it for cheaper online. Oh well. I'm thinking now that I've started reading it that it might be targeted more toward people older that I, it says it's for "living your healthiest life after 40," but I think it might be for an older crowd than that. Either way, she has great tips in the book that apply to people of any age. It talks about sleep, mindful eating, developing healthy rituals, creating a healthy outlook regardless of your health status and of course, gardening. It also talks about taking care of yourself while you are tasked with taking care of others who may be ill, or aging parents.

I also want to say a big thanks to everyone who has sent awesomely nice notes and messages of support. Thank you! I am lucky to have a great online community of friends.

Well, it's 9pm and I think it's time for me to wind down for the evening. Time to take a quick bath to wash the day off. Then snuggle time with the 4-legged furry monster who has been under the kitchen table this whole time licking my feet and begging for attention.