Making the Right Choices – Self Care

Making the Right Choices – Self Care

One of the greatest gifts of reaching a certain age is the blessing of releasing the need to people please and embracing the joys of self-care. For so many of us we accept that self-care is selfish instead of a duty that we owe ourselves.

Signing off my work computer at 5:15pm, making the decision to drive into town and participate in yoga practice, and celebrating the me that shows up on the mat on any given day is approaching self-care with the right attitude.

I am fortunate in that my job allows me certain privileges that make life easier. I am able to telecommute. My management team appreciates that I am self-motivated, organized and adept beyond the core requirements of my job. But I’ve reached the point when career takes a backseat to quality of life. I’m at the point of deciding whether it would be healthier for me to celebrate achieving a certain degree of autonomy and enjoy indulging in the ability to exploit my expertise and experience so that I only receive the most complex, fascinating assignments, or to continue aspiring for greater responsibilities for a more prestigious title and stock options.

Sometimes the answers are simple. Sometimes they are not. For a long time I’ve felt compelled to move to the next level, continue to reach for a higher goal, more financial rewards, and greater recognition. But I’m not so sure that would serve me well at this point in my life.

Maybe my guardian angels were sending me a message when I was not selected for the most recent position for which I applied. Perhaps I should pay heed to that message. I do not want to live to work. I work so that I can afford to live my personal life to its fullest. I do not want additional stress. I want to be able to sign off in time to practice yoga, to meet friends for dinner, to work in the yard all day Saturday without my work phone ringing.  The right choice for me may well be realizing that I don’t need the title and stock options to validate me.  Appropriate self-care today means yoga, a glass of Petit Verdot, watching the sunset, and petting our cats. Yeah  - that’s the ticket!