Recently, I have been feeling down and sad. It’s because I keep having big business projects and then add in the need to do tax preparation. I was missing spending time doing anything for fun and creativity. My time has been filled with things which have pressure and deadlines and problems to solve. Self-care was at the bottom of the list. Like a garden that has been neglected and become so overgrown with weeds that the flowers can’t come through, my life turned into months of all work and no play! Then one day, my employer sent my co-worker and myself to the local high school to have a table of goodies for Mental Health Awareness week. I was doubtful about what materials they would have for us to offer. At home, I had about 30 one-inch size lavender soaps I had made into rose shapes over a year ago. I brought them along and spread them out on the table and told the teens that lavender helps with calming and relaxation. We made a makeshift sign saying “Lavendar.” Then I posted a picture of us on Facebook.

Well, another one of our co-workers saw the photo and commented that she needs some lavender soap and I replied that I could help her out with that. So she ended up ordering six bars of soap from me which I now needed to make. That was actually just what I needed to pull me out of my drudgery. I cleaned up my kitchen and pulled out all of my soap making supplies. I got online and looked up the amount of essential oil I wanted to add to the amount of soap I would be cooking up. I pulled out my powdered colors and decided how much I would use. I put new batteries into the thermometer I use to check how warm my melted soap is getting. I pulled out my double boiler and got to cooking. I was already smiling and feeling lighter! All of my senses became engaged. I watched the surface of the soap and kept it stirred until smooth. I felt the warmth rising up from it. I waited for the right consistency which I knew when I felt it. Then I added the color and watched it swirl into the white melted soap. It is so pretty! Last, I added the lavender essential oil and enjoyed the wonderful smell. I quickly and carefully poured the mixture into molds because it starts to set up very quickly. It was so satisfying! And my kitchen smelled of lavender into the next day until I wrapped up all of the bars.

I have had my nose to the grindstone so much that I haven’t spent time with friends, either. I have a tendency to keep to myself anyway so it is easy to get focused on practical business and then find, as I have said, that I am not having any fun. Well, luckily, I had a gathering with a women’s networking group scheduled, and I pulled myself away from drudgery to go to that. Once there, I had a very good time! One of the women took us through a 30-minute session of Restorative Yoga. Now, I have tried yoga here and there over the years, but never really enjoyed it or stuck with it. In fact, a couple of times I got injured doing it. Once I lost my balance and strained my back which hurt for weeks. And here’s the thing, research keeps showing that yoga is good for all kinds of ailments including stress management, digestion, chronic pain, and mood issues. So I wished I liked it, but I really had never stuck with it. 

On this day with this women’s gathering, I was experiencing such pain in my neck that I couldn’t really turn my head to the side. It was painful while driving. And it had been like this for several days no matter what I tried to do about it. And I had been trying! I was a little nervous about doing the yoga session and I set up at the back of the group in case I decided to stop. Well, it turns out that in restorative yoga, in every position the body is completely supported so that a stretch can be maintained for a longer amount of time and the body can sink into it. One position we did near the end was the Heart pose. In that one, you lie back on a bolster such that your shoulders fall back and your chest and clavicle areas open up and get stretched. Turns out, that did the trick for my painful neck. I left that day with total relief. I was amazed! 

I was so thrilled that I purchased some yoga props for myself and started doing my own routine every evening as a wind down before bed. It felt so good! It turns out that even with restorative yoga you can have too much of a good thing. I hadn’t factored in that my body wasn’t used to that kind of deep stretching for lengths of time. I ended up with a few surprise pains in my low back and hip. I just backed off for a few days and then started doing a session every other evening and reduced the time I held a pose. Remember, the body always needs time to adjust. Since then, I have had another bout of neck pain which I was able to quickly cure with my restorative yoga practice. As often happens with me, pain motivates me to do self-care which also happens to have other benefits such as reduced stress and better sleep. Who would have guessed? So you see, even though I teach this stuff about self care and personal growth, I still need to have it proven to me and I still am constantly learning and growing!

Now spring is here and we have been getting some mild weather days and some sun here and there. I have been getting outside in my yard. I keep checking the buds that are forming on my lilac bush. And, I have been going outside for some walks. This always brings some moments of joy into my life! So my sadness and sense of drudgery has lifted even though my work intensity has increased over the past two weeks. I still have plenty of things I need to do on my to-do list and my house looks like a whirlwind went through it, tossing clothing and bags and mail and any number of items that were used for a moment and then set down and not put away. So I will stop talking and get back to it while in much better spirits!

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From Drudgery to Delight: Rediscovering Joy