Five Minute Me.
I spent all of Covid-19 working at my desk from 7 am until the nightly news came on. Depending on the day or week, I might work until 11 pm or even later. There I sat, sometimes barely moving anything except my fingers and eyeballs. I skipped meals then became starving and ate too much later on. I ate dinner late, barely hydrated, and sometimes didn’t even step outside for fresh air. It is a truth that I am sad to share. I became ashamed of myself for accomplishing so much with focus and drive, but simultaneously with so little self-control. On one hand, I got the job done. On the other hand, I was failing myself.
My son is a superstar in his own right. I always say that if life were a towel, he would wring it until it is bone dry. He is the kind of person who will leave this world with no stone left unturned. In my season of working for others and forgetting myself, he encouraged me in a non-judgmental way. He would ask questions about what I was eating. What supplements was I taking? How often did I find myself seated on the floor? He sent me Hoka running shoes for Mother’s Day. He sent me a Bosu ball just because. He hipped me to articles, routines, and whatever he found helpful. He noticed when my gait changed. He made suggestions of healthier footwear. In the grocery store, he mentioned that there are things I will have to be able to do when I get older. Then he would squat down to grab something from a lower shelf. He never embarrassed me. He never called me fat.
Between my thyroid and other hormones at play, my weight could fluctuate 30 pounds in a year. But hormones be damned, the main problem was that I didn’t value my life enough to truly take care of my body. And each time I saw my son, Rod, who lives 700 miles away, I wondered what he thought. Flexibility, agility, and balance. These are the things I was losing. My son didn’t point them out as shortcomings, but he preached on the need to preserve or restore them—generally speaking of course. I can’t remember what he said exactly. We talk for hours and frequently end our call with what could be a crazy good podcast. That’s why I can’t remember. But it was something like, “just do one thing for a few minutes. It all adds up. Just like if you eat a few potato chips all day long.”
Many thoughts later, I came up with the Five-Minute Me. Five-Minute Me changed my life. By dedicating a well deserved five minutes to myself every hour, I was able to put a process in motion that I could live with and not quit. Mind you, this started out as the Ten-Minute Me, but that was too much. It’s pretty simple. Every hour, my alarm goes off five minutes before the top of the hour. When the alarm goes off, I have to stop what I’m doing, get up and do something for me. This is very personal. It isn’t a phone call. It isn’t chatting it up with someone at work. It is not a potty break. It is a selfishly wonderful moment that stops my day in its tracks while I nourish myself with something. My body fought me on this. I had plenty of reasons to snooze the alarm and continue what I was doing. To just continue sitting there hour after hour.
I strenuously went back and forth on getting up versus remaining seated. Until finally, I won. Until finally, five minutes didn’t seem like enough. But it was a start. Five little minutes every hour was about 50 minutes a day of pure me. It was eight to ten glasses of water, a cup of tea, a cup of bone broth, a healthy snack, and actually swallowing my supplements. It was gazes across the snow, out into the rain, a traipse through my garden, a sit on my porch, a short prayer of gratitude and affirmations, walking barefoot, a noticing of a hummingbird. It was rocking out to Imagine Dragons on Alexa, a short prayer, or a chant. It was breathing in essential oils poured into the palms of my hand, lighting an incense, moisturizing my face, swinging a kettlebell, or smashing my smash ball.
My Five-Minute Me practice has morphed and matured and mastering it has changed my life by insisting that I include myself in my day. I’ve built a better reputation with me because I believe I am someone who can be trusted with my life. That I would lay down my life for me. That I would go to battle for me. That I could keep my word to me.
One day during Five-Minute Me, I relapsed. I dialed the number to the veterinarian to make a dental appointment for one of my dogs. I snapped. “YOU THINK you should be making Sunshine a dentist appointment and you haven’t even scheduled one for yourself!!!????” I wasn’t having it. I ended that call right quick and dialed Dr. Church. Five-Minute Me isn’t perfect. But I have made so much progress in the relationship I have with myself, it’s pretty close to it. And Rod, I appreciate you. I was listening the whole time. And when you see me this month you are going to be so proud.
How much time do you commit to your needs each day?
How consistent are you?
Do you think Five-Minute Me would help you progress into providing better self-care?
Peace and Love,
Tracey Alexandria Lynch
#selfcare #timemanagement #personalcare #extremelybusy #hormones #change #selfimprovement
Photo credits: Haley Bell