for a long time, the foundation of my self care practice was yoga. if i was going to yoga regularly, there was a strong chance that most other things were working well.
and then i moved, and struggled to find a studio that fit well with me (ie, wasn’t racist and appropriative!). i tried a few different video yoga things, and could never found one that totally resonated for a sustained practice. nothing seemed to work and all along the way, i was moving less and feeling worse and worse about it.
and then it dawned on me that i didn’t have to practice yoga in order to move my body. i could try something else.
so now, i go and do exercise classes in a space where i feel comfortable and welcome (well, right now i take those classes in my office as they’re live streamed from the studio because i’m still not ready to be in an enclosed room with people i don’t know without masks!) i stretch really consciously to make sure i don’t get too tight. i run sometimes, slowly. sometimes i go for a long walk, and i really like to hike. it looks different, but the foundation - the part where i move my body - is the same.
there might be things that need to evolve in your self care. you might have been able to get up every morning and write from 8 to 10, but that was before your house was full of your entire family, all the time, and that’s exactly when they need support to get settled into their days. you might have been really good at stopping at the gym on your way home from the lab, but now that you lab at home, or lab during a late shift, it’s harder to do that.
it can be really hard to build a new routine and set of skills up - there’s a reason that we don’t always jump for joy at the idea of having to make huge changes in any part of our lives. it can feel really, really frustrating to have something that really WORKS for you only to have your life change, and then that thing needs to change and you’re back at the drawing board.
but our lives change all the time. so it makes sense that what we need to support ourselves changes all the time. if we let go of the idea (in stages! it’s a tough one!) that we fix problems once, and then we carry out the solutions perfectly until the end of time, then it can feel a little easier to be in a state of flux. some things are stable. some things are morphing. we’re always moving. we’re always taking care.