In this week’s version of 52 Weeks: 52 Ways to Love Your (Wild) Self, my homework was to find 15 minutes per day and use those minutes for myself in any way I choose. I could sit and stare off into space. I could exercise, daydream, take a very quick nap, escape to my room and read for a bit, or any number of ideas. I’m sure other people are more creative with ways in which to spend a blissful 15 minutes, but I’m too practical with what I did with mine.
On some days, I had no problem finding the time but on others, I was hard pressed to find even a single moment. Nary a single minute devoted to just me.
Last Friday started off with a bang–I got a much needed massage. It was longer than 15 minutes so that should count for four days but the spirit of the homework is to take 15 minutes each day, not rack up the points and get it over with as soon as possible!
On the rest of the days, I went to the gym which is kind of “for” me in that it keeps me healthy and helps keep my depression at bay. But the part of the gym that is really for me is the sauna. After every workout session, I practically run to the sauna, towels and water at the ready. The benefits of using a sauna are many but what I love is the intense heat and the intense relaxation I feel after being in the sauna. I wish the sauna at TriCity Wellness Center was hotter but I’m sure there’s some kind of OSHA regulations that ruin everyone’s fun.
I also managed to get in an hour at the acupuncturist’s office which is an hour of lying on a table with needles sticking out of my neck, back, legs, and feet under a heat lamp. Sounds like torture, right? Something about it makes me nap each time. I cannot keep my eyes open. I am not sure how given that it’s in a busy office with lots of people walking by my room the whole time. Normally, to be able to sleep I need complete darkness, no noise other than the white noise fan, and perfect temperature. For some reason, I pass out every Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. despite less than ideal conditions. Rick walks in after my time is up, and I’m stretched out with paper imprints on my face.
On Wednesday I had lunch with a friend I haven’t seen since before the winter break at school. She’s my most normal friend. I’d explain that comment but that would involve telling everyone about my other, less-than-normal, friends and I don’t want to do that in case they should get offended especially since every person needs their less than normal friends, right?
Again, far more than 15 minutes spent at lunch especially since we had such a hard time figuring out if we wanted breakfast or lunch from Beach Plum in La Costa.
Wednesday was the last day for doing stuff strictly for me. My oldest daughter brought a puppy home last Saturday and then promptly went out of town twice. We have been pet-sitting Brody since Wednesday evening. And although he is adorable, he has WAY more energy than I know what to do with. He awakened at 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning and I got up and stayed up with him. Brody is a five-month-old miniature poodle (that’s him in the picture) and is high maintenance. I couldn’t do anything on Friday other than hang out with and play with him. My goals and promises meant nothing to him.
My theory was that he didn’t sleep because he hadn’t gotten enough exercise so I made sure he got two 2.1 mile walks in on one day and boy, he certainly slept throughout the night last night! However, I may have failed to mention that Brody is sleeping with my husband and me. This is a first for us; our other dog never needed that kind of nonstop attention. The walks albeit more than 15 minutes apiece were technically for me in that I wanted to sleep!
Brody has become my baby. He only wants me. Remember this stage with parenting? It’s the same with dogs. Today I found myself at the grocery store going down every single aisle so I wouldn’t have to go home and face Brody. He’s very high energy. I threw the ball for him in the house for an hour while attempting to write this blog post prior to going to the grocery store. Needless to say, it is now about 10 p.m on a Saturday night and I’m finally getting something written. He’s good enough that he’s sleeping at my feet so I get to write. Yes, it’s late but I’m keeping my promise to commit to writing two blog posts per week.
Did you give yourself 15 minutes each day to do whatever you wanted? If you did, what did you do? Is this a practice you’ll follow-through on a daily basis? I don’t think I can with any consistency. My schedule is empty one day and then crazy the next.
In this week’s homework assignment in the 52 Weeks: 52 Ways to Love Your (Wild) Self, I have to create art. Now this should be interesting, she said in a sarcastic tone. My daughters all have an incredible ability to draw, paint, sketch, take pictures, create cards, make t-shirts, etc. but they didn’t get this skill from me!
Sure, I’ve had some miracle moments like when I won a contest to put my drawing on the 6th Grade music program at Cynwyd Elementary, and another time when Mr. Levandoski chose my art as the best above two other girls. The music program got me nothing but a huge feeling of pride, but the Levandoski win came with the coveted beef jerky prize. Success surely tastes good! And, come to think of it, it was the first time I ever received payment for my art.
With all the options open for me, I may choose to paint a picture, write song lyrics, or create a poem. We shall see what floats my boat this week. Right now, I’m thinking song lyrics because it was the one thing I wanted to do when I was little. I have this memory of believing myself capable of writing nonstop hits.
If you’d like to join me, I’d love the company. No doubt it will be difficult to share what comes from this assignment but I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!
Cheers to you and the week of art.
Bloggoneit's Blog 
How great that you did manage to squeeze in some 15 minutes for yourself! And hey, walking with Brody was good for both exercise, and getting him to sleep all night, so that’s definitely something I’d count as the 15 minutes 🙂
I took 15 minutes yesterday to talk to someone who’d endangered someone I love, and today I was told that it’s none of my business. That I should keep my opinions to myself. That I am not the savior of the world, but that I am naive and stupid for thinking that I could change their mind. I guess 15 minutes can be good, but then even less than 15 minutes can ruin one’s day…
Yikes, yes I never thought of it that way–15 minutes can go either way. I, unfortunately, know exactly what you’re talking about.
Sounds like it was a scary situation and that you handled it well despite it ruining your day. Hopefully you’re continuing to take 15 minutes per day and that good canceled out the bad. If not, maybe a hot bath with a glass of wine (or two 😉 is in order.