Count on yourself.
Happy October. I am still getting used to being in the same month of me turning the big 50! It's a banner birthday and I'm going to celebrate it like I should.... with lots of boyband fun. If you don’t know about my obsession with boybands (namely NKOTB, I’m a Joe girl!).
The world is a dumpster fire right now. I have had to limit my exposure to news and the doom scrolling that I would be willing to bet most of us are doing right now. It is a time of great unrest and uncertainty. And in times of uncertainty, it's time to get to creating some for yourself. I know that usually putting yourself first is the first to go when things become busy or overwhelming. But we really should put ourselves first. After all, your partner for life is….. yourself.
Frequently I will put things off. It really just prolongs the problem. I am going to have to unload the dishwasher eventually and the trash piled by the door is not sanitary and I dont’ want bugs. Also, I’ve realized that mess creates a mess in my brain. I’d rather be chilling than overwhelmed with the piled up things I have do do. So, one day when I was doing the mental gymnastics of putting off something I need to do in order to do something I want to do…… I realized that doing that wasn’t so nice to my future self who was going to have to deal with the avalanche I had created. So I started to think about how I could address my future problems, and my future self.
I've decuded to do this thing lately where I do something nice for the Drew of tomorrow. It can be as small as putting another trash bag in the bottom of the trash can so I have one to put in when I take out the trash again. It can be getting up at 5am to go to the gym at 5:30am so that I am moving my body which always helps me with my anxiety. Or it can be securing tickets to see every show I want to when I go to celebrate my birthday in Vegas so that all I have to worry about when I'm there is showing up and thinking about what I'm going to wear. Oh, and hanging out with my boyband faves of course.
It's a small step, but I have to say I feel cared for when I go to the trash and realize I've forgotten the bag, only I didn't. And I remember that it was the Drew yesterday that cared enough to support the Drew of the future. It's the endorphins I feel leaving the gym, knowing that I am really glad my 5am Drew got up so that 7am Drew can feel good the rest of the day. It’s the pressure that is off when I get to Vegas and realize I don’t need to spend hours finding something to do or making an itinerary, because I have already thought of what I wanted to do and made it happen. Now just to pick out clothes and grab my friends and go. I feel like I’ve really considered myself and it leads to more instances of me taking care of myself.
What could you do to take care of your future self? It can be something small or something big, your choice. After all, when so many things in life right now are uncertain, you can ALWAYS count on yourself.
