Giving myself grace
You may have noticed that I haven’t been blogging. For the first time in 16 years of writing this blog, more than a month has passed since I last posted. I’m trying not to beat myself up about that.
You may have noticed that I haven’t been blogging. For the first time in 16 years of writing this blog, more than a month has passed since I last posted. I’m trying not to beat myself up about that.
I jumped aboard the adult coloring book craze last June. I loved coloring as a kid and I love it now. It’s so wonderful that so many interesting types of coloring books are available. And the coloring supplies! When I was a kid, I used Crayola crayons. Now, I use pencils, pens, markers…it feels like the sky’s the limit.
Tagged with: coloring, crafts, happiness, organizing products, organizing systems, relaxation, self-care, self care, worth repeating
Many of us in helping professions have a tendency to put the needs of those we help before our own. It’s so easy to do.
But, as I’ve discovered recently (yet again), it’s really important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, so that you can, in fact, take care of others.
Tagged with: self-care, worth repeating
This summer, I’m especially busy with organizing clients and travel and trying to keep up with that blogging schedule has been stressing me out a little. So I’ve decided to relieve the pressure and commit to blogging just once a week through the rest of the summer. I’m not even going to commit to a particular day, but you can expect to see a new post once a week.
I find the question of what’s important carries through to every aspect of my life. It’s become a touchstone of sorts for me.
Tagged with: family, priorities, self care, stress, task management, time management
I originally wrote this post several years ago and when I came across it today, I smiled at the advice. Do yourself a favor and create a kudos file you can look at it when you need a pick me up!
What do you do with nice little notes you receive from people?
Tagged with: self-care, self care, worth repeating
Today, April 9, all Missourians 16 years and older are eligible for a vaccination. Earlier this week, I became fully vaccinated when I hit the two-week mark after my second Pfizer shot. I lucked into a leftover dose back in February and was absolutely thrilled I didn’t have to wait until all Missourians were eligible, since I didn’t qualify in any other tier.
Tagged with: coronavirus, covid-19, optimism, self care
A couple of months ago, my husband, Barry, surprised me by suggesting I take a course on mindfulness. At the time, we were discussing my propensity to stumble and sometimes fall when I was walking our dog, Bix. (We have loads of uneven sidewalks in our historic neighborhood.) He said that when I’m out on a walk I’m too much in my head and not watching where I put my feet. He wasn’t wrong.
Tagged with: books, giveaway, mindfulness, reviews, self-care, self care, self knowledge
Every year for the past decade or so, I take a day this time of year to reflect on the past year and plan the coming year. I call it my personal retreat. (Here’s the post I wrote in 2017 about my retreat). Before this year, I would go from place to place around town (coffee shops, the library, the botanical garden, the floatation tank) for various of my planning. It was solitary and it was fabulous.
Tagged with: self care, time management
It’s hard to articulate all the feelings I’m having as I stay at home during this COVID-19 crisis. I try to push away the fear of the health and economic repercussions of the pandemic. I try to keep a positive attitude. And, most of all, I try to practice gratitude. Even though things are falling apart around us, I have so much to be thankful for.
Tagged with: adriene mishler, covid-19, gratitude, self care, yoga, yoga with adriene
Then this morning, I awoke to a text from a friend alerting me to a second episode of Some Good News. And this one absolutely made my day. I don’t want to give too much away, in the event you don’t know what I’m talking about, but if you, like me, are a fan of the musical Hamilton, you’re going to want to watch this all the way to the end. If you’re not (yet) a fan of Hamilton, I encourage you to watch it all the way to the end anyway. Enjoy.
Tagged with: hamilton, john krasinski, self care
In these strange times of COVID-19, gratitude feels important now more than ever. For me, the stay-at-home order means that I cannot work in clients’ homes. And I have lots of time to do the stuff I’ve been waiting to do when I have time. But actually getting myself to do that stuff is another matter.
Tagged with: coronavirus, covid-19, productivity, self care, social distancing, yarn
I’ve come up with some suggestions for making the most your spare time at home while you’re practicing social distancing to try to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. (If you’re now an at-home worker, my advice is to keep up your regular work schedule, then do the stuff below after work.)
Tagged with: coronavirus, covid-19, self care, social distancing
I wrote this post 5.5 years ago when I was dealing with some health challenges for family members. It came to mind recently, because my oldest brother has taken ill and has been hospitalized in southeastern Washington state for the past three weeks. I was trying to maintain my work schedule in St. Louis while checking in on him but decided about two weeks into his illness that I needed to travel to Washington to be there for him and be his advocate. In rereading the post, I felt like it had a great message. Scott is recovering from his bouts with severe pneumonia and I know I’ll keep these strategies in mind as I go back home to St. Louis and try to support him from afar.
Tagged with: kirby, self care, stress, task management, time management, worth repeating
I’m passionate about asking people to be kind to themselves and not let guilt about clutter (or anything else) get in the way of living their lives. I wrote this post more than ten years ago and its message remains just as strong today. It’s one of my very favorite posts, so I thought I’d share it again today.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, empowerment, self-care, shannon wilkinson, worth repeating
I haven’t taken a proper, responsibility-free vacation in a very long time. I re-read this post this morning, written after a wonderful trip to Barbados, and was so glad to be reminded of the importance of a vacation. I thought I’d share it in the hopes that it might inspire you to take a vacation! I’m going to try to get one in next year!
Tagged with: friendship, mount holyoke, relaxation, self-care, vacation, worth repeating
I love doing genealogy research. (If you’d like to know more about that, check out my blog Organize Your Family History.) I’ve actually created a habit of doing research every day, first thing in the morning. I haven’t missed a day since August 1—which especially pleases me because I took a week-long trip during that time.
I wrote this post in 2014 and I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to make doing genealogy research part of my morning routine so I’ve succeeded in finding time to feed my soul. If there’s something beneficial you’d like to start doing regularly, this post might help you find a way to find time.
I love doing genealogy research. It’s a fairly big part of my life—I blog twice weekly (most weeks) at my genealogy blog, Organize Your Family History, so I actually think about my family research quite a lot.
But I don’t actually research as often as I’d like. And that’s a shame, because researching my family history feeds my soul.
Tagged with: empowerment, genealogy, relaxation, self-care, self care, time management, worth repeating
I love Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project. She’s a fantastic communicator with amazing ideas. I’ve heard her speak and I love the positivity of her message.
When I learned that she was creating a coloring book, The Happiness Project Mini Posters: A Coloring Book rushed to pre-order on Amazon. Then I forgot about it. What a joy it was to receive it in the mail last week!
Tagged with: coloring, crafts, gretchen rubin, relaxation, self care
I typically avoid buying appliances or gadgets that serve only one purpose. The wonderful blog Unclutterer calls those Unitaskers and features them on Unitasker Wednesdays.
But last month I made an exception to that rule and purchased the Breville BTM800XL One-Touch Tea Maker. It’s an electric tea kettle and brewer. Two of my friends and colleagues, Amanda Rickers and Sheila DeHart each had one and raved about it. I found it irresistible.
Tagged with: kitchen, self care, tea, unclutterer
Many of us in helping professions have a tendency to put the needs of those we help before our own. It’s so easy to do.
But, as I’ve discovered recently (yet again), it’s really important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, so that you can, in fact, take care of others.
Tagged with: self-care, worth repeating
This Monday is February 29. I love leap year because we get a whole extra day in the year. What a gift!
Tagged with: leap year, self care, time management
Several weeks ago, I blogged about organizing my coloring supplies. I enjoy coloring in coloring books intended for grown ups and I use colored pencils and Sharpies primarily.
In that blog post, I showed how I organize my dozens of colored pencils. (I use Prismacolor Premier pencils.) And I mentioned that I had yet to figure out a good way to organize my colored Sharpies. At the time, they were laying flat in a box all mixed together.
Tagged with: coloring, crafts, happiness, organizing products, organizing systems, relaxation, self-care, self care
I jumped aboard the adult coloring book craze last June. I loved coloring as a kid and I love it now. It’s so wonderful that so many interesting types of coloring books are available. And the coloring supplies! When I was a kid, I used Crayola crayons. Now, I use pencils, pens, markers…it feels like the sky’s the limit.
Tagged with: coloring, crafts, happiness, organizing products, organizing systems, relaxation, self-care, self care
I think regular rest and relaxation is very, very important. It’s so easy to get caught up in work and chores and family and never take time for yourself. That’s particularly true, I think, when you struggle with disorganization and feel like you should spend all your spare time “getting organized.” (That’s a fallacy, of course.)
Tagged with: coloring, crafts, happiness, relaxation, self-care, self care
So that’s a long-winded way of saying I’ve done no admin work for almost a month, my email is piling up and who knows how many balls I’ve let drop. Thank goodness I don’t get much snail mail, so I don’t have a daunting pile of mail to deal with.
Tagged with: backlog, habit, planning, routines, self-care, task list
Many of us in helping professions have a tendency to put the needs of those we help before our own. It’s so easy to do.
But, as I’ve discovered recently (yet again), it’s really important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, so that you can, in fact, take care of others.
Tagged with: self-care
I love doing genealogy research. It’s a fairly big part of my life—I blog twice weekly (most weeks) at my genealogy blog, Organize Your Family History, so I actually think about my family research quite a lot.
Tagged with: empowerment, genealogy, relaxation, self-care, self care, time management
I was out of town for five days in mid-September. I’ve been back a week and I still don’t have my mojo back.
Tagged with: clean desk, email, habits, routines, self-care, task list, travel
Since my schedule lightened up a couple of years ago, I’ve lived with relatively little stress. I work hard, which is occasionally stressful, but it’s good stress, since I love my clients and my work. Everything else has been on a pretty even keel. I know that I’m very fortunate.
Tagged with: kirby, self care, stress, task management, time management
I wrote this post five years ago, but it still rings true. Recently, I purchased a greeting card whose front bears this quotation from George Addair: “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Distinguishing between when your fear is protecting you and when it’s limiting you can be a tricky thing._
Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, fear, self-care, shannon wilkinson, silvercreek glider club, worth repeating
Today I had occasion to choose a card at random from a deck of Pause cards. Created by a Inspired Mastery, a coaching company, each Pause Card in the deck has a potent message for the mindful leader.
Tagged with: pause cards, self care
I’m passionate about asking people to be kind to themselves and not let guilt about clutter (or anything else) get in the way of living their lives. It’s been almost six years since I wrote this posted, called Self-Care, but it remains one of my very favorite posts. I thought I’d share it again today.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, empowerment, self-care, shannon wilkinson, worth repeating
As I mentioned in my last blog post, last week I went to Barbados with my college buddies, to celebrate a big birthday.
Tagged with: friendship, mount holyoke, relaxation, self-care, vacation
I haven’t really gone fishing…that’s not my idea of a good time. (I feel sorry for the fish.) But I might look at some fish next week through a mask, because I’m going to an island, baby!
Tagged with: friendship, mount holyoke, relaxation, self-care, vacation
About a month ago, I wrote a blog post called The Value of Saying No. In it, I talked about the freedom and relief I’m feeling now that a variety of volunteer professional commitments are behind me.
Tagged with: commitments, self-care, time management
On her Facebook page my buddy Gerailn Thomas shared the following words of wisdom this past Friday: “It’s Okay to Say No.”
Tagged with: commitments, geralin thomas, self-care, time management
At a meeting at the headquarters of the Institute for Challenging Disorganization the other day, the ICD executive director, Beth Quick-Andrews, paid me a big compliment. She mentioned a blog post I’d written a year and a half ago and how she thinks about its message often. She even told me when I’d posted it.
Tagged with: holidays, icd, self-care, time management
In September I felt like I was on a hamster wheel. Due to my travel and work schedules, I didn’t have any time to relax at home. I did take a weekend away, which was great, but it wasn’t the same as recharging my batteries at home.
Tagged with: relaxation, self-care
I’ve been traveling and working hard these last couple of weeks. I was in Raleigh, N.C. to attend the Institute for Challenging Disorganization’s annual conference which was, in a word, fantastic. (If somewhat exhausting.)
Tagged with: geralin thomas, icd, self-care
One of the biggest pieces of advice I give to my clients is to be kind to themselves. That self-care is so often lacking. For many of my clients (the majority of whom are busy women) the biggest gift they can give themselves is time alone. A bubble bath. A cup of tea and a novel. Stealing away to a matinee.
Tagged with: empowerment, rewards, self-care, shannon wilkinson
It’s a long weekend in the U.S. Memorial Day weekend typically marks the beginning of summer. It’s been feeling like summer here in St. Louis for the past week or two, so it feels like it’s about time.
Tagged with: holidays, self-care, time management
Last year around this time, I blogged about Jen Louden’s Virtual Retreat. It was a weekend event where participants got to hear interviews with a variety of self-help folks to help them nurture themselves.
Tagged with: empowerment, encouragement, jen louden, relaxation, self-care
Yesterday I typed one of my favorite phrases, one that I learned from Supercoach Michael Neill. That phrase is “Why is it so hard to let it be easy?” I printed it out in a pretty font and posted it to my bulletin board. I want letting things be easy to be my theme for this month.
Last Monday I blogged about my glorious Sunday (the day before) during which I did nothing but watch movies, do crafts, read and nap. I was enraptured at the rejuvenation I felt after taking a day to myself. I stand behind that post.
Tagged with: relaxation, rewards, self-care
I had a glorious day yesterday in which I placed no demands on myself. After working with clients the last couple of weekends, it was great to have a Sunday to do whatever I wanted to do. (I got my home-related chores taken care of on Saturday.)
Tagged with: knitting, needle felting, relaxation, rewards, self-care, television
Recently my husband and I went to a family reunion held at a ski resort in Pennsylvania (it was the end of June and there was no snow). He and I rode a chair lift up to the top of the mountain to enjoy the view. I don’t ski and I’ve only been on a ski lift a handful of times. Neither of us heard the mumbling attendant’s instructions to pull the restraining bar over our heads and lock it in place in front of us. So we were riding up the mountain with nothing preventing us from falling out of the moving chair.
Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, fear, self-care, shannon wilkinson, silvercreek glider club
I was home for a day and am now heading to Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania for my husband’s family reunion. Because of all the coming and going I haven’t had time to blog.
Tagged with: knitting, relaxation, rewards, self-care
n January, I took Jen Louden’s wonderful Virtual Retreat. Jen, known as “The Comfort Queen,” offered up a four-day weekend full of talks (over the phone) from inspiring self-help folks. It was terrific.
Tagged with: empowerment, encouragement, fear, gratitude, jen louden, optimism, self-care, workshops
We all know the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you). Probably most of us try to live by it. I know I do.
But this past week I experienced, as I have in the past, how the Golden Rule can backfire.
Tagged with: golden rule, illness, marriage, self-care
On Friday I wrote that I was overwhelmed with tasks and clutter and that I really wanted to put my feet up this weekend, but had so much to do that I feared that wouldn’t be prudent. So I decided to create short task lists for each weekend day and relax only after I’d completed all the tasks on them.
Tagged with: clutter, empowerment, priorities, productivity, relaxation, self-care, time management
So far this year, things have been running really smoothly. I’ve been gliding through the days, getting lots done, meeting some terrific people, making some money. Kind of idyllic, in fact.
Tagged with: clutter, empowerment, priorities, relaxation, self-care, time management
While the new year also feels ripe with possibilities for me, I have to admit that the advent of 2009 is a little scarier than usual. I have great hopes for a turnaround in our economy, but I know that for many people (including me, sometimes) the economic situation makes taking action—or even feeling good—a little difficult and scary.
Tagged with: empowerment, encouragement, fear, gratitude, havi brooks, jen louden, michael neill, optimism, relaxation, self-care, workshops
This morning I received the e-newsletter of Christine Kane, the blogger, musician, and creativity consultant whose blog was my Blog of the Week a few months ago.
Tagged with: christine kane, decluttering, encouragement, gratitude, self-care, workspace
Yesterday I had what we call around our a home a Lazy Day. We had that extra hour, due to the end of Daylight Saving Time and, as I said I would on Friday, I used that time to knit and watch TV. It sure didn’t stop at an hour, though. I knit so much yesterday that my shoulders started hurting by the evening (so I stopped)
Tagged with: knitting, productivity, relaxation, self-care
Yesterday’s Oprah show revolved around the theme of slowing down. It featured the tragic story of Brenda Slaby, a Chicago educator and mom who forgot her two-year-old daughter was in the car and left her there for eight hours last August. The child died. We relived that experience with the guilt-ridden mother. Such a sad, sad story.
Tagged with: meditation, oprah, self-care
My back-to-back conference hopping in the past 10 days has plum worn me out.
Tagged with: gwa, nsgcd, productivity, self-care
I’m always struck how clutter gets in the way of life. I have many clients who constantly feel an obligation to deal with their clutter. They plan to devote a weekend to decluttering, then they start to feel overwhelmed, so they don’t actually deal with it. (Until they call me.)
Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, empowerment, self-care, shannon wilkinson