My blogging buddy, Kwizgiver, wrote a post that really resonated with me. She
detailed how self-care helped her helped her prevail during a
(ridiculously) tough month. Her tips were very wise and so doable! So she has
inspired me to take one and integrate it into my own life.
Since I can be a pretty harsh self-critic, this is the one I chose. I hope I can do this every day during March. By then it should be a habit, right?
Three nice things about myself -- March 9:
1) I held my temper. I invited my friend Nancy and her husband to a specific restaurant for her birthday meal. What a bitch I am! You would think that by how Nancy was acting. The restaurant is open from 8 AM until 10 PM. They are known for their crepes and the way they do milkshakes, especially for birthdays, with sprinkles and fruit and all kinds of lovely things, and I know Nancy likes shakes. I sent her a link to the restaurant so she could familiarize herself with the menu.
She chose the time: high noon. When we got there, she saw the line outside the door and said, "Maybe you should have made a reservation." Um ... the website says "no reservations for breakfast or brunch." I told her that the earliest reservation is for 3:00. (Like the website says.) She suggested we go to the coffee shop next door. OK, cheaper for me ... but I was sad because I wanted to wow her with the crepes and milkshakes.
We get to the coffee shop and guess what: at noon on Saturday, they have a line, too. We gave them our names and went to the bookstore a few doors down to browse. The bookstore had the two books Nancy wanted in stock! YAY! Now we could have done this at the more special restaurant I'd chosen, but never mind. This is about Nancy so I'm letting her call all the shots.
It took the coffee shop 20 minutes to text us. Nancy was scandalized. Remember, she chose the time. I told her that every nice restaurant is going to be busy with the lunch crowd at high noon and she shrugged. Then she complained about how busy the sidewalks are, filled with people! It's a good economy, I'm not going to bitch. Then she rolled her eyes when a kid approached us, offering to sell us candy for $1. I didn't give him one of my "blessing bags" because I was afraid she'd tell me I'm encouraging him, and I don't want to hear that. Not from her. Not today.
Afterward, as we walked to her car, she complained about how "overbuilt and busy" the neighborhood is. She used to live here! Again, good economy = infrastructure = JOBS! I am happy. I told her that. I also told her "I could do 30 minutes on your neighborhood, if I wanted to." Her lily white, completely non-diverse, bedroom community where nothing is walkable and you have to drive to buy a quart of milk. They don't even have an independent bookstore, or a card shop like the one I work at. Or a cute restaurant that specializes in crepes, or a movie theater, all within blocks of one another. It's a fucking snooze.
But I stopped at "if I wanted to." It was Nancy's birthday, and maybe something was eating at her. I know at times grief over her son's death pops up unexpectedly, maybe that's what this was. Anyway, the point was to celebrate Nancy, not argue with her.
As always, I made her husband Paul laugh a lot. Nancy loves that about me. They don't have many friends; there's his friends and her friends but not many they share.
So I made her husband laugh, I got her a cute gift, I fed them, and I bit my tongue. I like myself for all that.
2) I made the nutritious choice. I found myself hungry this evening. I really wanted an all-beef hot dog. But I had a burger and fries for lunch. So I made myself a snack of vegetables. The hot dog would have tasted better, but I like myself for taking care of myself.
3) I kept an open mind. This week's classic film is The Solid Gold Cadillac. It's a favorite of our movie group moderator, Will. I began watching it and thought it was just OK. My viewing was interrupted when my cable went out. When it came back on, I'll be honest -- I didn't feel like resuming the movie. But Will is so cute and enthusiastic when we discuss one of his faves. He works hard on selecting a variety of films, researching and posting about them, then he runs our Meetups. He does all this without compensation. I like myself for remembering that and keeping an open mind about The Solid Gold Cadillac. It turned out to be a cute movie. It ain't Citizen Kane, but I'm not sorry I saw it. And I'm glad I'll be able to discuss it intelligently Monday.
