I am very bad at self-care. Considering what I do, it's a bit like the old adage, "The cobbler's children have no shoes." Or, if I were being less nice, I'd say I'm probably hypocrite material.

Not liking this aspect of myself very much.

I recently signed up for SuperBetter, a groovy little app I learned about from Jane McGonigal's TED talk. I've determined I will invest in the "quest" for better health, and so I've made myself check in with SB every day.

Today's spizzy little blurb was about emotional health and mental resilience. I sighed out loud at the instructions, but decided I might as well "get it over with." I shut my office door, switched my iPhone to music, and put my feet up to listen to music for 10 minutes as per instructed.

The music app is on "Shuffle" so instead of fiddling, just listened to the first four songs on tap. The play list ended up being

1) All I have to do is Dream (Roy Orbison original)

2) All My Life (Hot & Wet),

3) All the Glory/And He Shall Reign (Graham Kendrick) &

4) Always (Bon Jovi).

My 10 minutes are over, and I am having mixed feelings about this. The break was truly rejuvenating, and I feel like I have a few more brain cells operating. But I also feel a bit ashamed that something so simple can make me feel better, and I just don't it. Everything and everyone else comes before me and what I might need at the moment. I seem to be primarily controlled by the tyranny of someone else's agenda.

That soooooo sucks!

I think I'm going to take a couple of behaviour experiments I give my clients and practice them myself. Starting with looking myself in the eye in the mirror and practicing saying, "I'm afraid I won't be able to help with that project this week or next, but I could look at how I might help the first week of August." (I'm falling about laughing as I think about actually saying something like that to any of my staff or colleagues. They'd pass out.)

Stay tuned.