Hey! It’s Sunday morning here and as you’re waking up or enjoying brunch, how about a catch up of our week. Self care is so important to everyone, you don’t have to have mental health problems or chronic illnesses to practice self care. Trust me I know. It’s the ultimate thing to do and practice to have the best life you can. I started self care and by self care I don’t mean a bath daily and things along that line, around 2 maybe 3 years ago and I am still learning today to improve my life.
Little introduction about myself for the new readers out there. I am Melanie Kate, mostly known as Mel. I am 29 years old and I live in the UK. Welcome to my blog. I became unwell roughly 5 years ago and I have had 3 operations and 2 other procedures down in the operating theatre. I have Endometriosis and it has took 4 years for a full diagnosis. Well, the yes you have it kind of answer. Who knows what is to come in the future, but for now I want to live the best life I can and that is why I practice self care daily.
How was your week? Full of good days, bad or ugly? Or a combination. For me it’s been a ok week, I have had goods, achievements and I have also had a few bad and ugly situations. I have been really motivated this week. I have been organised, done tick off lists and achieved stuff I thought I would run out of time on. Yesterday for you, tomorrow for me, I am hosting my good friend’s daughter a crafternoon tea for her 4th birthday.
Anyone that knows me, knows I am super creative, I hosted my niece’s crafternoon tea back in March. Being creative in anyway shape or form is so good for you. Your self care shines of creativity. By creativity I don’t necessarily mean you have to go paint a portrait or sew a blanket. My god if I painted a picture it would be worse than all of yours. Creativity is the time where you wind down destress and relax. Whether that’s making, baking or simply colouring in. It’s all creative and you will naturally strive off of that time and creativeness.
I have worked everyday this week. But of course as above I have been super creative. I split the preparation up so I could do a little bit each day. Its 7pm now as I type this and I am ready to go tomorrow and make the sandwiches. You don’t know how amazing I feel that I have motivated myself and organised everything without an inch of panic or stress. Ok its not my usual creativity, I don’t sit and thread twine on 7 dream catchers daily and cut wire for bracelets and necklaces. But its a chance for me to relax do creativeness which I love and it makes me super calm and happy, but tomorrow it will also (hopefully) make a little girl smile and be super excited for the best birthday ever. All my effort which I wanted to put in and will continue to is also a random act of kindness because I am doing everything to make the best birthday party ever.
This week has been pretty normal for me. I have been to work, I have ate the same breakfast everyday, maybe a different flavour but still the same. Come home from work and though I did preparation I have chilled out, watched television and be a content Melanie Kate.
There are a lot of thoughts and feelings running through my head at the minute and you will hate me for actually saying that because I can’t actually tell you anymore that that. But I think I am determined and I feel really positive about them. I don’t have a little Jiminy Cricket in my head trying to tell me things or make me feel different because of people around me and there judgment. But really no one has the right to judge me or hurt my feelings about it because I am myself and what makes me happy is all that matters.
It has been really hot this week or humid more that hot. But my hay fever is so bad that I can’t have winds open near me. I sometimes describe it as I am allergic to the outside. My skin is now forming rashes or becomes so itchy as soon as I am outside or the window is open. We brought some new cream to try help me as well. It does but not as much as I would hope it would. The flat is naturally boiling in summer and is now, not only my summer pyjamas are cool enough, the windows have to remain shut to be an itch free, hive free home. The Dyson heater that is on at zero degrees has been my best friend and cools me down.
Week 3 of weight watchers is about to wrap up. I have lost 3lb so far, that’s 2 weigh ins. This week I have been really healthy and massively stuck to my daily allowance. I am hoping for a good loss on Monday. Though I am not feeling like I have had a good week in the mirror. But the scales are the results. My stomach can fluctuate in size daily, hourly sometimes. That is down to my Endometriosis.
Negative situations or people have really drawn me in this week. I don’t know why because I have been so in my own world of crafts and the week really has been a good week of self care and positive affirmations. To be honest I am pretty surprised I didn’t cry on Thursday. I was so annoyed and upset by how I felt and how I was drawn to the negative. Thats something I really need to work on and that will be my goal in my journal for August actually. Toilet meditation is going to have to work better or I will need to plug into some podcasts. Anyone know of any good meditation ones? I use headspace the app right now. Though can meditate without.
Me time has been the best this week. Like last I was finishing off the same book. Its a beautiful book and the storyline still amazes me with how up and down it goes and how it ended. I have wanted and some nights achieved a good hours read. My mum even told me she was amazed and thought it was brilliant how much I read nowadays. I hated reading whilst I was at school and only was whilst away on holiday that I read. Now I am into a book a week or fortnight. Unless I can’t get into the story then I am left with the book for 6 weeks. I love to shut off my phone and iPad and get my journals and book out. Mostly at 20 to 9 these days.
My bullet journal though I have used one before is something really new to me. I am literally documenting all my positives each day, what is on my mind but positives only and my mood. Pages for weight loss and my summer bucket list because I want to add photos and make it really personal.
The Self Care A journal is going strong, daily documenting my sleeping hours, how I was brave, what I practiced and my gratitude. I checked in with myself at the beginning of the week. Asking myself what I achieved in the month, out of 1-10 how did my month go and improvements for next month. Checking in with yourself really helps actually. It makes you think about your actions, what you have done and what to take forward to the next. Really you could say that I was closing a chapter of my year and leaving the rubbish parts behind. Harder than that sounds, trust me. But it sort of works.
For my daily planner, that’s still going strong as well. I am all for scribbling my feelings down daily and leaving them to have a betters night sleep. It works because if I don’t set an alarm I sleep for 12 hours and its amazing. Writing or following the same daily phrases really helps you push them into your brain. They are always positives or things that my body needs to survive. Things I am working on are being the better person, the grown up and trying to push the negative away. That or not letting the negatives hurt me, upset me or annoy me to pull me in.
Other than mostly positives I really got cross with myself for letting 2 negatives draw me in this week. I was really on the ball and motivated this week. Pushing my energy and driving myself through all my work for the party. You know when you are on a high and positively pleased with how well you are doing, then 2 negatives hit you in one day and that day is not the day you needed the negative to push you back to a place you had improved upon. Never mind I will work harder next week to be positively pleased.
Next week we have payday so it will be a little better. I am going to try focus on positive more next week, making more of my home time and organising it to welcome me with a smile. Not that it doesn’t now but I have an Aladdin’s cave of crafts across my living room. Stretching is something that I have enjoyed in the mornings but some mornings I just make it out of bed when I should be leaving. So I want to make sure to stretch every morning. Lay there for a few minutes after the stretch and think of my actions and how I want the day to go. Of course there will be plenty of bubble baths. Let’s hope my next book is as good as the last.
Self care is all about allowing myself as who I am today, to live the most positive life I can achieve. What it’s self care for you? It can also mean that self care is different to me on a daily basis and how I feel. Some days I could just lay around and sleep all day the next I could be ready to go shopping or to London. I have to organise my life to my best ability and live it like that to.
