Today is the day you set an intention to practice self-care.  You have the designated time in your head, you have chosen activity, you have chosen the location for said activity, you have set the stage to have a wonderful encounter with yourself and right as you get settled in here comes an outside distraction outside of your control.  This could be a child waking up early/going to bed later than normal.  It could be a partner, friend or family member needing some assistance in the moment. It could be your own mind remembering something that you had to complete/look up and then you fall down the rabbit hole of busyness, exploring the world wide web or scrolling on social media.

I get it! It has happened to the best of us.

Regardless of the scenario, interruptions to self-care happen and can be very frustrating especially if you are trying to be consistent with your self-care practice.  I think it’s important to talk about the interruptions because if we are being honest, life happens.  We cannot control what happens to us moment by moment, but we can always control how we respond.

So what do you do?  You go BAACK.

Breath. 

• Take a deep breath before responding to any interruption.  It will slow your mind and body down.

Acknowledge the interruption. 

• “This is not what I had planned for this time.  I designated this time for myself. I feel _____ that my time was interrupted.”

Assess if this is something that we need to engage in now or is the interruption not critical where we can use this as an opportunity to honor the boundary we are creating with ourselves and continue on with our self-care practice.

• This interruption needs my immediate attention, but I will make up this time with myself as soon as I can today.
• This interruption can wait and I will continue to honor myself.

Continue setting the intention to practice self-care.

Keep acting on your self-care intention.

Remember the BAACK method next time your self-care gets interruption.  The beauty of self-care is that you can access it anytime you need it.  Yes, you may have had a set time in the morning, but there is no rule saying you cannot practice self-care in the afternoon or at night. 

Keep in mind that there will be times you will need to be flexible of when you practice, where you practice or how you practice, but do not compromise on what you practice which is self-care and who you are practicing for which is you.

Self-care is the best care.  You deserve it.

Take care of yourself,

Sonya