be calm Sunday

I keep seeing this phrase 'self care' being batted around and I thought it was just another dumb buzzword, and I'm pretty sure I was right.  The concept, though, is simple and something I try to maintain on Sundays.  The big idea is to take care of yourself by setting aside time to do things you enjoy or that enrich your life and make you a better human.  For different people this means different hings, obviously, and I want to take a few moments to tell you what my version of this is because it really has made a difference. 

It used to be that I would be kind of emotional or stressed on Sundays and so Mondays were hectic in turn.  Over the last year or so I have been trying to get better at having a nice Sunday so I could have a great Monday.  First, I try to be home no later that 6 pm Sunday night, but if I'm honest I like to be home most of the day.  I usually take a long shower and wash and scrub and be very thorough.  Then I put lotion on.  I used to skip this step but this winter I have worked at keeping hydrated and lotion is part of that process for me.  I bought some nice body lotion and a heavy duty facial serum as well as a heavy duty hand cream and I use them!  I often do a load of laundry, but not always, and then the real relaxation sets in because I almost always pick up my knitting and watch a movie of some sort or a couple episodes of a tv show.  I like to make myself dinner, nothing too time consuming or fancy, but something that I will want to eat and I often have a glass of wine.  I clean my humidifier on Sunday night so it sounds nice and not like it's gasping for breath.  Then I get my bag ready for Monday and sometimes set out my clothes for the morning and get the coffee ready to go.  I like to finish the evening in bed with a book.  Starting a routine of calming myself down in the afternoon helps me feel prepared to go to bed and ready for the week ahead!