Relaxation .... Taking care of ME

Do you take time to take care of yourself?  Do you feel selfish when you do take time to relax? 

I think as mom's we all have, at one time or other, not taken time to take care of ourselves.   However, it is really important to take time out of our busy lives to tend to the mom, in the family.  How do we, mom, take time out of our hectic schedule to take time to take care of ourselves?  This is a simple question, but can be a hard one.  How much time do we take?  What should we do?

There are times in my life that I am taking care of everyone else and forget to take care of me.  What with the kids needing me to do something for them and then there is the husband.  Oh and don't forget the dog .. lol. Even they need me to take care of them.  Then there is the laundry, house to be cleaned, meals to be cooked, errands to be ran and then the part time jobs I am doing.  Shoot I hardly have time to work in my exercise and God time.  Now, I am needing to find more time to make sure I am taken care of.

Well, I did just that today.  I love to take nice long, hot baths and I usually take them at night, but today I decided to take one this morning.  Oh how nice!!   Everyone is gone either to school or work .. just me and the dog.  I ran a HOT bath .. fixed me some hot tea .. got my Bible and set off for the spa (my bathroom).  Oh I wish I could tell you just how nice it was ... no kids to come and knock on my door to just ask a question that could have waited.   After reading my scripture of the day .. I just cleared my mine and listened to the stillness.  Then Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God .." came to my mind and it made me think about how God wants us to be still so we can listen to Him. 

I like to do different things to relax and try to un-wind from my busy schedule.  Of course, hot bath is at the top, but some other things are .. sitting in a rocker chair on my back porch .. taking a leisure walk by myself ... or just going to bed early.  It doesn't matter what you chose to do, you just have to do it.  It can be as simple as 5 minutes, but sometimes we have to take more, just depends on your life.

So here is a challenge for you and for me.  To find sometime for yourself.  Some really relaxing and quiet time.   I am making an appointment with myself at least twice a month to take care of myself.  If I don't .. who will be around to take care of everyone else?