Early in my recovery I was always asking myself the same questions over and over.
I was worried that if I didn’t cover all bases every single day that I would wake up and somehow my acquired sobriety and personal progress might be gone.
It took me awhile to find a balance of self-examination and living that I could healthily maintain.
So instead of obsessing over whether or not I was working a perfect program,
I worked to become more focused on asking God to help me fearlessly examine and search my character every day, and to leave the rest alone.
I believe that it is very important for all of us to get into the habit of taking our own inventory on a regular basis. I don’t think it matters whether you are in Recovery or not.
Aren’t we all just trying to be a little bit better than we were yesterday, while trying to maintain some level of contentment for who we are at this very moment?
My self-care is based around a core group of individualized standards that I have outlined in my own daily regimen to feel like I am the best me; to maintain my overall wellness.
It all really boils down to simplicity.
I enjoy and thrive within the realm of simple.
I try to rid my life of things that aren’t necessary:
Toxic things.
Negative things or anything else that has a weighted presence that isn’t absolutely necessary. Not just things that are uncomfortable, but real detrimental kinds of things. The kinds of things that will damage your spirit kinds of things.
Extra extra things.
I do my best to thoughtfully, and in some bigger cases, prayerfully commit to extras.
Things like sports, hobbies, play dates, groups, meetings, or anything else that falls into extra curricular miscellaneous. If it isn’t like life or death, I assume that it can be carefully considered and added, or maybe not. Keeping my core priorities number one is my number one, and then if we have time to squish in additional things- great.
Unhealthy relational things.
My boundaries are also important to my mental and emotional awareness and regulation.
In my case, they truly are the difference between my spiritual life and death. When I betray my own commitment or stretch myself in ways that are unhealthy for me, I suffer. Of course my life isn’t void of all things negative, but the situations that I do have a choice in, I choose peace.
Fear based things.
I strive to live a bold life. I don’t always live up to this personal goal. Basically this just means I try not to live in fear, make decisions from a place of fear, avoid making decisions because of fear, or to be led anywhere by fear or anxiety from fear. Sounds simple enough, but I tend to lean a tad toward an anxious personality. So.
Sometimes, tending to my own garden and cutting out crap isn’t pretty.
It’s not always easy or as clear-cut as I would prefer and other times, the crap I need to get rid of is obvious.
I just try to continue learning as I go on this journey.
Spending my borrowed time well and doing things that I hope bring some kind of positive glory to God, who saved my life. learn to spend my time well.
My goal every day is to Let’s learn to spend time, spending our time well.
Let’s recklessly abandon the stuff that we don’t really need.
Never underestimate the importance in abandoning crap.