Taking care of myself

Evidently, the whole point of tracking one’s time is to take a look at the week in total and see how much worked, slept, hung out with your kids, and enjoyed leisure time. I have not yet spent the time to add up these numbers, but hope to do that (and write about it) before the week is out.

As you all know, things are a little hectic right now, but I’m trying to make a concerted effort to take care of myself when I can.

I mentioned in my final time log post that my hip and lower back were bothering me. I think I tweaked my hip on Wednesday when I ran, and it just kept getting worse until I was almost out of commission by Sunday; I could hardly walk at the end of the day, and even sitting was excruciating.

On Monday morning I called my chiropractor and made an appointment for Wednesday. Then I called a family friend who gives massages (at a discount to those who know him) to see if he could get me in before my appointment; I’ve noticed that adjustments are much more productive when my muscles aren’t so tight.

So today I ducked out of my professional development hours a little early (one of the benefits of being the only foreign language teacher) and got a massage (which was more painful than anything because my body is a mess right now–but still totally worth it) and then went to the chiropractor. When he adjusted my hips something deep inside moved into alignment and I immediately felt better. The rest of my back and neck needed some work too, as I’ve been carrying myself in weird ways to ease the discomfort in my hips and lower back.

I definitely feel better, though my body is still very sore. I hope that in the next few days the pain goes away as I start to heal.

It can be hard to take the time (and spend the money) to take care of myself, but sometimes the alternatives are too costly. I have been in a lot of pain, and I needed to feel better. I’m so grateful that I was able to make those appointments–and had the money to splurge on them–so that I could take care of myself when I was hurting.

This week is the book fair at my daughter’s school. I spent two hours (4-6pm) there yesterday and 1.5 hours there today. Friday is my final two hour shift (but we also have to take it down, which will probably take a while). It’s a lot of work, and hectic, but the book fair is an important fundraiser for the school.

September did not end up being the low key month I had hoped for, and October promises more of the same with parent teacher conference at my school and my daughter’s, my son’s third birthday, and Halloween (with all the parties at school and aftercare that entails). I guess I’ll just have to find more ways to take care of myself, even when things get busy.