Daily Archives: May 5, 2023

Home > Daily Archives: May 5, 2023

Author Self-Care

May 5, 2023 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as author self-care, motivatrion, tracy read

Happy May.

Yes, I’m going to say it . . . I can’t believe it’s already May. The year is almost half over and I still have things from the first quarter I need to do.

Okay, so I’m going off course with this post and talk about a subject we as authors are guilty of not doing . . . self-care . . . wellness. I don’t know about you, but I am slowly moving back into society after three years of isolation. I still wear a mask. No judging. I happen to be highly allergic . . . grass, watermelon, horse hair, peanuts, cats, some dogs, dust…the list goes on. The other reason I’m still masked up, I’ve been undergoing some dental work and don’t want to catch anything before my next procedure..

Thanks to COVID, I have neglected myself. My beauty or maintenance regime has been very inconsistent. Prior to COVID, I went to the salon regularly. My hands, feet and hair were always on point. I worked out five days a week between 60 and 90 minutes per day.

As we are on the back end of the pandemic, I got a revelation. I need to take regular breaks. I also realized, haven’t been good about my self-care. I did a self-check and was shocked how easy it was for me fall back into some of my old habits. Not getting enough sleep was at the top of my list. When I don’t get enough rest, my thinking is cloudy and clear and my writing makes no sense.

So how am I going to resolve this? With baby steps.

First off, if I were to go all in with a major wellness change, I think I’d freak out. I really want to rest from all work for three consecutive days a month. Then I want to break the late night television binge. I have been hooked on Perry Mason reruns as well as the new HBO version. These two shows have kept up beyond my sleep time. The next thing, I want to do is gym five days a week for an hour per day. Third, I want to eliminate junk.

Believe it or not, the easiest thing on this list to do is eliminate junk food. Telling my body no to junk food was easy. Telling my body to go to bed earlier wasn’t. Here’s the weird part, my body clock still wants to get up at it’s designated time regardless of when I got into bed..

What does all of this have to do with self-care/wellness? If we don’t take care of ourselves, we can’t count on anyone else to do it for us. The main reason for self-care is to live better . . . get stronger . . . get healthy.

If you haven’t already, I challenge you to start a wellness plan and or journal. Pencil in three day breaks every quarter. Remember, on these breaks you aren’t allowed to do anything work related. Then I want you to adjust or evaluate your sleep schedule. I won’t ask how many are on a regular sleep schedule, because we’re writers. We write when the muse speaks, but let’s train the muse to visit us during the day so we don’t have to be up late..

Next on the list, cut back on the junk food. Do I really need to explain this to you? You know junk food isn’t the healthiest option. However, the occasional hamburger and fries sort of just hit the spot. If you aren’t working out, get a plan. Start out with a brisk walk a few times a week. Then add some strength training. Trust me on the strength training. You need all the strength you can get to set up your book tables at signing events.

These few changes will help you stay healthy and wise. Trust me, your brain will welcome the opportunity to recharge.

Here’s to a new healthy second half of the year.