stop the 67 ways you're multitasking and read this

i know there are 8,000 things pulling on you today, telling you they are important.

maybe it's your children, or your boss, or your deadlines, or your internal compulsion to be productive, or your partner, or your laundry needing to be washed or needing to be folded or needing to be put away, or your stack of bills on the desk, or your unanswered emails, or your garden needs watering or your yard needs weeding, your dishes are calling, the end of the school year is looming large, your job is all-consuming, the show you are binge-watching, your instagram or facebook feed that you just can't turn away from, your to do list is longer than the hours in your day, the need to call your mom or your sister or your friend...you are behind and in the weeds and overwhelmed and behind as usual.

i know. those are real things, and you can't pretend them away or act as if they are meaningless.

but i want to remind you that something, or rather someone, else is important too. 

guess what! it's you.

i am historically the worst at this, but i am telling you right now that you have to pause and take time for yourself. i feel as if we have so many things - all valid in their own right to varying degrees - pushing in on us and pulling us in all sorts of directions. some of them you have to do because it's your job, or you're a parent, or you have a true obligation to follow through. but inevitably i find myself, and the things that are good for my soul, the practices that are most life-giving and sustaining, at the bottom of my to do list, so i don't get to them many days. 

so hi. i, the queen of poor self-care, am reminding you today that you need to shorten your to do list. take 5 minutes to be still and listen. 5 minutes to drink your coffee in the stillness of the morning. 10 minutes to pray. 15 minutes to take a bath. 20 minutes to read a book. 30 minutes to sit outside in the sun. 45 minutes to go running. 50 minutes to do yoga. 60 minutes to get down on the floor and play with your kids. most of the stuff we are crossing off our lists can wait that long, don't you think?

this year i have been leaning in to self-care, and the more i do it, the easier it gets. so instead of thinking i am wasting time by working out or writing or sitting in the sun or playing pretend restaurant with monrovia and ruby, i am prioritizing it. i think i am becoming more whole somehow in the process, or at least more elastic and flexible when i have a hard day. i promise all that stuff will still be there in a few minutes, demanding your attention.