The challenges of self-care

I really need to get back into the routine of taking better care of myself. With how swamped I've been, it's really fallen by the wayside, but with how stressed I've been, it's become extremely necessary. Trouble is, self-care takes time and attention. Extra time and the leftover brainpower to think about this stuff are two things I have had in short supply lately.

For example, not drinking enough water is a chronic problem I have. I don't feel thirsty all that often, so it's very common for me to forget to drink during the day. I get dehydration headaches and I think related physical weakness on a regular basis, and it's very likely a contributing trigger for my migraines. For my health I should be mindful to make myself drink, because it's not something I'm inclined to do on my own. But that takes remembering, putting safeguards in place takes thought, and lately I've had precious little of that left over to devote to things that aren't on deadline. Eating right and really, geuinely relaxing have also been slipping a lot. I'm still sleeping okay and I get in at least four hours of serious exercise a week, but I can feel how run down I am. It's hard to figure out what will make things better. Sleep helps some, I guess, as does wall-staring and mindless TV, but that has the consequence of making me check out of my life more. Getting a good massage is pretty surefire, now that I think about it, but it either takes money and time I don't have, or a pretty major imposition on somebody else. Still, something needs to improve.

I'm pretty tough. You name it, when it counts I can probably struggle through it-- hungry, exhausted, stressed out, in pain, overburdened, emotionally injured, I can handle it and get whatever I really need to done. The real damage is not to my productivity but to my wellbeing. I get less and less happy the longer I keep pushing through that stuff, which usually makes me get mean. The quality of my output goes down eventually like anybody else, but I personally start suffering long before my work does.

So, thing I'd like to work into my life to deal with this: drinking more water. Eating healthier meals. Some new relaxation technique, like yoga or meditation. Time where I'm not thinking or worrying about obligations. And figuring out when I can truly put everything aside for a little while. I need downtime, and the start of November didn't bring it like I tricked myself into thinking it would.

Jared's Ash Williams costume for Halloween

For years, Jared has wanted to go as Ash from Evil Dead for Halloween. For various reasons, he's always ended up going as something else. This year he missed the Halloween party, so even though he managed to get it together, nobody saw it. But last night we took pictures of him in it, and I think it came out pretty well.

He covered some thrift stores clothes with fake blood, and he built the chainsaw himself. He used an empty washing machine detergent bottle for the housing, cut out the neck, and painted it red. He put grip tape on the handle, a black cap on to for the gas cap, and cut and painted the rippled bottom out of a Gatorade bottle for the vent. The blade is made of boffer foam, attached with two wire hanger insides of it, affixed in the housing with expoxy and poking out to skewer the foam. The boomstick was kindly lent to him by lightgamer.

I think it turned out pretty well.