Tend to Yourself 

Tend to Yourself

We spend so much of our lives tending to things. We look after our families, our homes, our work, our friendships and the never-ending list of little things that somehow need our attention. We check that everyone else is okay, remember what needs doing and keep everything ticking along. But somewhere amongst all of that, it can be very easy to forget that we need tending to as well.

I think sometimes we hear the words “self-care” and imagine it needs to be something big. A whole routine, a day at a spa, an elaborate ritual or something we need to find hours for. But actually, some of the most important ways we care for ourselves are incredibly ordinary.

It can be eating when you’re hungry instead of putting it off because you’re busy. Taking your medication. Going outside for some fresh air. Sitting quietly with a cup of tea. Having a bath. Meditating for ten minutes. Moving your body because it feels good. Lighting a candle just because you like the smell of it. Or deciding that actually, today you need to do absolutely nothing for a while.
There is magic in those little things too.

I’ve been thinking about the word tend because it feels different from telling ourselves that we need to “work on” ourselves. I’m not a project that needs completing. I’m a person who is still growing, changing, learning and healing. I don’t need to constantly search for the next thing that needs fixing.
When we tend to a garden, we don’t stand over it demanding that it grows faster. We give it what it needs. We water it. We give it light. We protect it when the weather turns. Sometimes we prune things that are no longer helping it grow. And sometimes we simply leave it alone and trust that something is happening beneath the soil even when we can’t see it yet.

Maybe we deserve to treat ourselves with that same patience.

Healing doesn’t always need to feel like hard work. Spiritual growth doesn’t mean constantly digging into another wound or finding another lesson. Sometimes the lesson is learning when you’ve done enough. Sometimes the most healing thing you can do is make yourself comfortable, breathe deeply and allow yourself to simply exist.

So today I’m not asking myself what I can achieve, improve or tick off a list. I’m asking something much simpler

What do I need today?

And then I’m going to try to listen to the answer.
Maybe you could ask yourself the same thing.

You don’t have to wait until you’re exhausted, overwhelmed or running on empty before you’re allowed to care for yourself. You wouldn’t wait until a garden was dying before giving it water.

Tend to yourself while you’re blooming too.

Daily Affirmation

Onwards, Nova x