Yesterday was Self Care Sunday in my world. That doesn’t mean I sat on the couch and ate chocolate while watching a Golden Girls marathon. Although, a day with Dorothy, Rose, Sophia and that endearing hussie Blanche would be hard to resist. 

Instead, it means that I spent the day doing things that will make my life better or even easier in the coming workweek and then spent some time writing, reading and doing quiet activities that bring me joy. 

I slept in and caught part of the CBS Sunday Morning Show, an important one as they honored longtime host Charles Osgood who passed away this week at the age of 91.

Charles … yes, we were on a first name basis – Charles was my absolute favorite television news personality of my lifetime. Cultured and witty, never crass or cruel, he had a voice that made me feel like I was sitting down with an old friend. He looked for the good, the interesting and the untold stories in the world and I have missed him every Sunday since his retirement. 

Next up were two chores that I simply haven’t had time or energy to deal with lately – clean the bathroom and Scout’s litter box. These are not difficult chores but they do require mental preparation that I sometimes can’t pull off during a busy workweek. 

I let Robot Bob do some vacuuming. Scout likes to oversee this process and it freed my time to do a little straightening in other areas. Clean sheets and clothes washed, dried and returned to where they belong is a gratifying feeling, especially when you slide into a freshly made bed!

Afterward was some light exercise. I’m still babying my knee a bit but it felt good to move and stretch. I also feel better about myself after any kind of exercise. A walk in the woods is always best but anything will do on a rainy day. 

Then it was back to the kitchen to do some meal prep. There’s nothing worse than coming home after a long workday to remember you still haven’t won the lottery and there still isn’t a personal chef waiting anxiously to learn if you prefer broccoli or asparagus tonight. Oh, the disappointment! 

So I roasted veggies, made some fish and experimented with overnight oats. I don’t like oats but am trying to learn to like them in the interest of being a healthier me. This has been an ongoing struggle for most of my adult life. We shall soon see if I cracked the case this time!

I also worked on my budget and gathered items for tax preparation. 

See where I’m headed with this? Self care is many things. For some it’s a Tuesday night massage, lots of moisturizer and sleeping in. For me, it’s often a morning in the woods, a day in an antique mall or a road trip to a destination unknown. However, it can also be lots of unattractive things batched together over a few hours to make the next few days more pleasant. 

It was about 4:30 when I finally sat down to read.

Was the house perfect? It was not. No indeedy, I didn’t dust but I did vacuum the dead stink bugs out of the window sill where they collect in the living room. Having that done made my heart happy and mind relax just a little more than normal. 

While in the kitchen, I was able to keep an eye on the dozens of birds flitting about the feeder. I put a bird feeder in the line of sight of my kitchen window last year and it has brought me great joy. It’s on a metal shepherds hook at this time but I would like to eventually have something taller and more permanent placed in that location to make it harder for the wandering cats in the neighborhood to grab one of my visitors like it’s dining at the Ponderosa buffet. 

But that’s a project for another day’s list. 

Instead, I kicked back on the couch with a book and my journal, with Pandora on my favorite oldies station and rain hitting the windows. Later I switched gears to PBS to watch All Creatures Great And Small, the very best show on tv these days. 

This, my friends, was a perfect day of self care because that’s how I choose to view it. The work had to be done anyway. I couldn’t go another day without emptying Scout’s litter genie. I needed to cook some food and wanted clean clothes ready to go for the week. Yes, it was work but I chose to view it differently. I chose to view it as a form of preparation to make my week better, to make myself feel better. And I still had time to relax and kick up my feet with a snack and to do the fun things I looked forward to enjoying. 

Self Care Sunday. I should do this more often!