Finding Joy

Welcome to day 1 of Self Care!

This course is meant to rejuvenate you, not to drain you. Always keep that at the forefront of your mind. Each day you're encouraged to go inward, prioritize yourself for a few minutes each day and find your way back to the path of balance.

Notice I didn't say "immediately find balance and everything is great!" That's because it's a journey. A marathon not a sprint. Your healing is always evolving. You won't wake up one day and just arrive at the place of perfection. It.does.not.exist.

But what does exist is balance. And over these next 10 days I want to help you begin bringing yourself back into balance.

Today, we're focusing on what brings you joy. I know for me, as a busy mom, fiancee, the owner of multiple businesses and ya know...a human...I struggle with prioritizing time for what brings me joy.

I used to think self care was just getting a shower in for the day or managing to eat a semi decent meal before I ran out the door to the next activity. But the reality was, I was drowning. No wonder I was so sick.

Here are some signs that you may not be prioritizing your joy:

-Irrational irritability.

-Mood swings.

-Trouble sleeping & exhaustion all day.

-Resentfulness towards the people you love & care for.

-Sadness surrounding your day to day life.

-A feeling of emptiness.

Of course these are not mutually exclusive to a lack of joy but what I found was that I had all of these signs every single day and then when I took a good look at why I felt so disconnected from myself I didn't even know who Allissa was anymore. I didn't wake up excited to do anything, ever. I just simply was going through the motions.

So I made a list..."What brings me joy". The kind of joy that fills ME up for ME without any attachment to an outcome or validation of others (both a huge issue for me as an enneagram 3 IYKYK).

I took that list and began slowly making small pockets of time for these things I love each day.

Tomorrow we'll talk more about the when and how (we're all busy but I pinky swear you have more time than you think if something is imperative to your health and happiness) but for now I just want you to make the list. Get in touch with yourself. Sit in a quiet place and ask yourself

"If I didn't have any of these responsibilities, what would I spend my time doing each day?"

Here's what that looked like for me:

-Reading a book for fun...not for personal development or work.

-Exercising every single day in some way.

-Cooking 3 amazing, nutritious meals.

-Spending time in nature, preferably in the sun.

-Taking care of my garden.

-Minimalizing my home to be clean & less cluttered.

-Going shopping by myself where I can take my time, look at everything without feeling rushed, scream 90's country in the car & take myself on a date for food I love without consulting anyone else.

Notice, all of mine involve being alone. I'm an introvert. That doesn't mean I hate people, I actually really love people but I refuel when I'm alone and then I can show up as a better version of myself for those people I love. And when I can refuel during my alone time, my body relaxes and gets out of the fight or flight mode of all those negative feelings I listed above. THIS is what begins to facilitate your core healing. You can use a notebook dedicated to this course, your phone's notepad, a sticky note, the instagram store templet or all of the above! Just take a little bit of time to put it in writting! I'd love to see your lists! Share on social media and tag me @balanced_body_restorative on IG or Allissa Lakatos on FB! See you tomorrow when we talk about morning routines & time managment!

xoxo

Allissa