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Self Care Routine.

  I very recently started listening to podcasts. One of them is “wiser than me” hosted by Julia Dreyfus. One of the questions she routinely asks all her guests is, “do you have a self-care routine, do you mediate, yoga, what do you do?”

 I don’t remember exactly who her guest was this time, but I was simply fascinated by their answer. It was unlike any one I had heard before, but I was very happy to hear it, it deeply resonated with my own answer, one very dear to my heart. This guest said they liked to read before bedtime, that is their self-care routine and not only that, their favorite genre is  reading "mystery” novels, that is their escape from reality. 

OMG!! I was surprised to hear that answer. In today’s world, self-care is often associated with mediation, yoga, going to a spa, getting a massage, exercise and those are not necessarily bad things, they have their own benefits, and I am happy if they work for you. But they have never been my things. My self-care routine always has been reading a book, especially the thriller kind of ones, and even though it is a thriller, it calms me mentally, it transforms me into a different being. For that little time, I am in a different world, I find myself envisioning all the things I can not do in real life, the unfathomable things such as running, chasing, jumping off things. 

I never go anywhere without at least one book. 

In fact, when my children were little, I had enrolled them for swimming lessons at a local gym and I used to go read a book there instead of using that time to exercise. My friends used to make fun of me, they said, "I must be the only person who goes to the gym to read a book and not exercise." I am like that little child, when it comes to books, they are my security blanket. I don’t like to share them with anyone. I am very possessive of them. Reading has been my cherished nighttime routine for the longest time. 

I loved reading to my children when they were little. That was my favorite part of the day, I could never be tired enough to not read to them (I have 3 children by the way, one of them is a set of twins, so you can only imagine what my day would be like).

 I inherited the love for reading from my father. I am very thankful to him for this habit, this routine. What does self-care look like to you, mean to you? What is your routine? Please share it in the comments. No answer is a bad answer.  It doesn’t have to be what most people are doing. You can have your own unique self-care routine. Embrace it. Enjoy it. We can agree to disagree. These are my ramblings for today!

                                

This is what my night stand looks like....





I love books so much so that this was my recent birthday gift from one of my friends. 




                                                            Me at a local library 



Me at the Gym.






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