7 Ways I Do "Self-Care"
Plus, My Speech With YAF Is LIVE!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Book Club Is Meeting Tuesday, June 6th!
This month we are reading fiction (we switch up month-to-month) and the book we will be reading is…And Then There Were None! I asked you all this month to help me choose our book club selection, and Agatha Christie was the clear winner.
Our Book Club discussion will take place on Tuesday, June 6th at 8:15 PM. Looking forward to seeing you all then!
What You Might Have Missed At Classically Abby…
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Quote of the Week:
“All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” – Ronald Reagan
Classic Style Inspo
I love the way this content creator paired her fitted jean skirt with a slouchy sweater! Plus, with the dainty necklace and earrings, the whole look is incredibly classic. Balancing volume is the key to making any outfit flattering. To make this work for warmer weather, simply wear a looser fitting white T-shirt or a baggy button-down.
Things I’ve Been Loving: Pen Loops
What are these Abby, you might be wondering? These are the best little random thing you never knew you needed! Do you like to keep a pen with your notebooks? Do you always just stick it into the spiral binding, hoping you don’t lose it? Well, that’s where these pen loops come in! They have an adhesive on the back, and the loop sticks out of the side of your notebook so you can always keep a pen with you. I love these and since I get a new notebook every six months or so, I don’t mind having a 12-pack of them since they’re not reusable!
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I'm a wife, mama, opera singer, entrepreneur, YouTuber, and your guide to becoming the classic woman you've always wanted to be! Follow me on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter to see how! And together, let's be classic.
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7 Ways I Do "Self-Care"
Hello lovely friends and welcome to another edition of the Classically Abby newsletter! How is your week going? Mine has been busy! My parents are out of town for a little while, which I didn’t expect to totally upturn my days, but it has. My mother usually comes for an hour each day, and apparently that one hour makes all the difference because without her here it has been crazy trying to get everything done! I have made my priorities taking care of Mr. Baby, getting us fed, and cleaning the house. If we can do those three things each day, we are doing enough. And that’s the goal!
But I felt that today’s topic was especially relevant this week, as I’ve been so hands on. Of course, my husband has been helping, but he has a full-time job himself, so he can’t be on duty with me all day! As a stay-at-home mom, I’m working 6:45 AM to 7:45 PM and then getting the house ready to go for the following day, which is a pretty packed schedule. So it’s extra important to take care of myself so that I have the stamina to make it through.
Now, I want to quickly address the term “self-care.” I hate that term, to be honest. I find that it is often tied to a picture of a woman holding a glass of wine in the bathtub, screaming that she needs her space so that she can recover from her terrible life. Essentially, the way we use the term “self-care” these days really means restorative care. It’s living a chaotic life, not taking stock of how you can improve it, and then needing to run away by watching a stupid TV show, drinking alcohol, and shutting the door on your problems. I did a whole video about this, so you can watch it here. Taking care of yourself, though, is all about preventative care and it’s super important. Rather than using “self-care” as a band-aid over the gaping wound that is your unhappiness, taking care of yourself is making sure you are thriving rather than just surviving. You simply cannot pour from an empty cup, and it’s imperative that we take care of ourselves so that we can be dependable to the people who need us. So I’m using “self-care” as shorthand here, but what I really mean is taking care of yourself.
I’m excited to share seven small ways that I do self-care, because I think there are certain habits and rituals that can keep you feeling good everyday. So let’s get into it!
Drink ice cold water. Random, right? I know, it sounds silly. But there’s something about always having ice cold water that feels luxurious. Drinking a lukewarm cup of water feels a little sad. But having that cold, crisp sip of water from a cup you really enjoy says, “I care enough about me that I’m willing to take the extra minute to put ice in my glass.” I know that when I drink a cold beverage, I don’t feel like my well-being is at the bottom of the list. And that’s actually really important.
Make yourself breakfast every day. If there’s one meal I love, it’s breakfast. I love breakfast food and I love waking up and eating something delicious at the start of my day! I really think taking a few minutes to make yourself a great first meal matters. I enjoy hashbrowns if I have a few extra minutes, or if I don’t, a piece of toast and two eggs over-easy will do the trick. But again, giving yourself a slightly luxurious experience each day is a reminder that you are important and you are worthy of a hot meal. You don’t have to eat cereal while everyone else has pancakes! You can eat something warm because you matter.
Get a pedicure once a month. A pedicure forces you to sit, relax, and allow someone else to take care of your problems for about 45 minutes. I love having my toenails painted so that they look nice in sandals. I live in Florida, so I’m always in open-toed shoes, and having my toenails done is imperative. But painting them myself isn’t super fun and I don’t often have the physical space to do so as my son wants to be all over me at all times! So I love the time I get to myself at the nail salon to focus on whatever it is I want to focus on - a show, a book, a magazine, whatever! Booking myself a pedicure is like a little present to myself. And it’s something I look forward to all month long.
Ordering dinner out every once in a while. If you often prepare dinner for your family, you know that it can sometimes be difficult to get food on the table. Giving myself the leeway to order dinner out sometimes is a really nice gift. It means that I can take a night off here and there and not worry about it! Does that mean it has to be expensive? Absolutely not. It can be pizza! But it just means that I don’t have to get everything done and prepare a meal every single night.
Prioritizing chores that are good for my mental health. This sounds really funny. Chores are part of your self-care? But actually, yes. I find that if I have a messy house, my mental health really suffers. That means that prioritizing keeping my house tidy over all of my other chores (AKA doing and folding the laundry or mopping the floor) is a must for me, and it’s a gift I give myself. If I am feeling overwhelmed, there’s a 75% chance it’s because the house is messy. So I allow myself to take care of the chore that matters to me most. Your space matters - it’s a reflection of your mind. So if you feel similarly to me, perhaps this is a form of self-care to consider.
Taking time off from content creation. I previously discussed that I had taken a short hiatus from making videos or Instagram content, and part of that has to do with self-care. It’s hard to maintain my full-time job as a homemaker and mom as well as traveling for speeches with YAF as well as creating content for all my socials. It’s important for me to follow my own mental health cues so that I can avoid burnout. And it’s a form of self-care to take a break every now and then.
Spending time with my girlfriends. I feel so blessed that I am part of a lovely community that gets together for a number of different reasons throughout the month. I host my own community book club, I am part of a cooking club, and I’m part of a group of moms that go out just to spend the evening together. I don’t always get to go to every event, but making sure that I do spend time with my friends is an important way to fill my cup. It’s important to be social, and it’s important to do things outside of your chores and duties. And this is one way that I do so!
So those are seven ways that I do self-care. I’d love to know what you all do! Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I love this! My husband and I just talked today about how important it is to me to keep the house tidy and picked up. I was sick last week, so we ended up ordering food 4 out of 7 nights, and had a friend's birthday dinner on Sunday. I felt so disgusting after that week of eating out and not being able to take care of the house. Today I spent 2 hours picking up the clutter that had amassed as we went through last week on survival mode, and I washed all of the dishes that hadn't gotten done. I felt SO MUCH BETTER afterwards that I even baked a lemon tart, just because I had a clean kitchen and I wanted to!
"Self care" has such a weird connotation to it, as you said, because even though people use it "positively," they also use it reactively. Self care should be, as you said, about making sure that you don't get to the point of needing a big escape.
Mary here! I find watering my plants and checking up on them is a great way to self care. My home office has three plants -- it's fairly easy now at a gardening store or grocery store to find ones that need low light and are relatively difficult to kill. (If you need plant help, reply to this and I'll help!) Trick: If you prefer the idea of plants but not the reality, the website "Nearly Natural" has great faux plants. They purposefully design them with irregularities and tiny "flaws" so they look like real ones. I have those on my porch as I want them there in winter, and no one has ever guessed they are faux! It actually works the same on your brain to see the green in the "plant."