Self-Care
What is self-care? Self-care is the practice of taking care of your physical, mental, and emotional health. It involves making choices that promote your well-being and reduce stress.
Last week I stepped away from reality for a week to practice self-care that was much needed! The last time I went on a vacation was well over a year ago. My husband and I agreed that we would take a vacation at least once a year. We booked a cruise with family. Sometimes family can be toxic, but I lucked out and have amazing in-laws. The cruise was a week-long! My family and I enjoyed most of the time by the pool and hot tub relaxing under the sun, soaking up vitamin D, and dosing off to the sounds of laughter, calming music, and water splashing while at sea. I did do the zip line on the ship. As I approached the course for the zip line, I started telling myself, “What are you doing?’ Once I completed the course, I told myself, “That wasn’t bad.” However, it was super windy out and being up high was kind of scary! Oh, I can’t forget about the unlimited ice cream that was offered in various locations. Just about every evening, the adults went to the comedy and adult shows while the little ones went to camp. The comedians had our stomachs in knots from laughing so hard!
Our first port was the Bahamas. My husband and I have been there a handful of times from past cruises and had already explored the island. We booked an excursion to swim with pigs, which was actually pretty exciting! The island had twenty-two piglets running around along with a fair amount of other large pigs. Crazy right!? Do you want to know what’s even crazier? The island crew workers gave us hotdogs and apples to feed the pigs!!! If you didn’t know, hotdogs are made with beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. The pigs loved it, and we were told in advance don’t ask questions about their food. Everyone was told to get into the water, so that the pigs would have to swim to retrieve their food from us. The experience was cool! The next port was Dominican Republic, which was hands down my favorite port!!! My family and I were able to interact with spider monkeys that were so little, light weight, soft tiny hands, and adorable. I soaked it all in, sat back, and just observed the monkey’s behavior as they were jumping from one person to the next. I melted when they were jumping on me because I’m an animal lover and I wanted to take all of them home, but I knew that I couldn’t. While admiring the monkeys in their habitat I felt very free from everything in that moment. Watching mother nature is so satisfying and therapeutic to me! The last port was Grand Turk. We all rented a golf cart and toured the island. Did you know the total length of Grand Turk is about seven miles long? Fun facts. The most common animal spotted in Grand Turk was all the wild donkeys! Once the ship left Grand Turk, we only had one day remaining on the ship. I tried not to think about it and soaked up all that I could. In the beginning it started off slow, but then before I knew it the time came to get off the ship.
Saturday morning came, and I instantly felt blah knowing that my vacation was over, and I was going back to reality! I didn’t want my vacation to end because I felt like it wasn’t long enough. When I got home, I was super dizzy with my sea legs! It took a good four days to feel normal again. Getting back into my daily routine took me about a week to fully commit, because once I started it that’s all I was going to know for a while. Afterall, when you work just about every day and get caught up in your routine the days go by slow, but the years go by fast, and before you know it a year or even two has gone by! The older you get it seems like life passes by faster. If you haven’t taken a vacation in a year, go practice some self-care and enjoy some time while being present in the moment!