Nic Gets Fit: Self Care and Learning to Say No.

I saw this on a friend's Pinterest a while back and I pinned it onto my board "healthy me" and never really gave it a second thought. Then last week I had just an overwhelming week at work. I work as a home based pediatric therapist. Feeding therapy, behavior therapy, parent education and mental health. It's amazing but can be very stressful and very tiring. Since having my little peanut, I do this very part time, which usually protects me from feeling like I have nothing left in the tank at the end of the week- but last week was a reminder that I need to get better at "saying no without explaining myself". I have the hardest time saying NO to clients , the guilt of canceling a session makes me offer insane times that I don't really want to work or I end up working longer days and leaving my little guy in Daycare for a full day which I would rather not do. After last week, I decided this habit of explaining my every no and apologizing profusely when I put me and my family above work needed to end.

I'm focused on total fitness and total health and for me, that means self care and managing stress.

Therapist, wife, mom , friend , daughter, sister, person.... they all take up their space in my day and that space isn't always peaceful.

Stress used to mean watching TV and eating whatever chocolate I could find ( or if I'm being totally honest would go and get) I used to think I was "decompressing" but what I was really doing was just self sabotaging and completely checking out.

I'm only into my third week of this adventure but the mental changes are a breath of fresh air and this space to just purge has been an accountability I truly needed.

YOGA TODAY: trying to find my inner Zen and trying to figure out how the heck to do the crow without face planting. Baby steps!