Day 22--Finally Rested

NOTE: This post is eight days old. I am so sad to have over-looked it in my drafts and not passed along the pamper yourself challenge when it was happening. Regardless, there is some great writing that goes on over there and lots of inspiring ways to pamper one's self were shared and should be tried!

First, I'd like to say that there is a lovely challenge that has been going on this last week on Musings of a Meloncholic that screams PAMPER YOUR~SELF, everyday! It's the best kind of challenge as it's SO easy to get warped into the cycle of doing the things that we have to do without doing the small things that fill our well and refresh our spirit.

Isn't it amazing how much we push ourselves? Granted, there is a time and place when and where pushing the limits is the only way. Like yesterday in Spin class for instance. The female instructor gets up in my face and says, "Are you going 10/10?" I'm caught off guard. "You're young and you are strong. Crank it up," she says loudly. She watches me turn the notch a half-moon to the right. "Crank it again." I follow command, and she continues on her way around the room. As she passes me on her way back up to the front of the class in route to her bike, she says, "that's where you should be, alright?" I nod with compliance as sweat drips on my handle bars.

But the pushing that I'm concerned with is the non-stop go, go, go that we expect from ourselves. As a mother, the juggling act of taking care of the kiddos (and the husband), meals, laundry, shopping, cleaning, baths and so on, really never ends. The cycle perpetuates itself each day and unless I consciously decide to sit down and read my book or write, I continue to charge through the day like a bat out of hell; afraid that if I slow down I'll get too far behind and then be in BIG trouble!

So with Melancholic's pamper challenge and my Living Intentionally challenge on my mind I've devoted the last day (and a half) to some much needed TLC. Yesterday, I iced my shoulder like my Chiropractic Dr. brother instructed me and followed it up with a much needed nap. Luckily the babies were up for nap time, too, so it worked out perfectly. N even joined us for some zzz's.

How nice it is to realize that we CAN pamper ourselves in the simplest ways and that we do, in fact, DESERVE it!