Midweek Musings

:: moods, Brooke Shields, and self care ::

I’m musing today, so I thought I’d send a short, out-of-band¹ post. I’ve fallen into a routine of Saturday publications, but I may add a regular mid-week post if time allows.

The last couple of days have had me in what my grandmother would call a funk. No rhyme or reason to this mood except the hormonal swings that plague women of most ages and adolescent males. So not fair.

Anyway, when I fall into a slump, I go down my checklist of things that I may need to focus on.

Am I exercising?

Have I been soaking up the sun?

Am I consuming healthy things (mind and body)?

Have I neglected studying Scripture, prayer, and meditation?

Am I well-rested?

Have I been peopling² too much? Not enough?

Fact: I’m happier and more pleasant to be around when I’m taking care of myself. I’m sure I could find some scholarly article to support this, but I don’t need to. We all know what we need to do—if only we would do it.

This year I bought a treadmill after realizing I would never walk outside regularly in 90+ degree temps. I’ve also made it a point to sit outside more enjoying nature and to pay attention to my sleep patterns on my Fitbit. Currently I’m not eating healthy meals, which is (I’m sure) contributing to my blah-ness. The small things count. I just have to be intentional.

Today’s musing on self care is brought to you courtesy of my makeup session this morning. As I penciled in my eyebrows, I remembered that eyebrows bring me joy.

What in the world are you talking about?? you may be asking.

When I was younger, I began (as most teenagers do) to groom my unruly brows. My mother had a fit the first time my friend insisted she pluck the hairs into submission.

Eyebrows 3 decades ago

“Oh, Holly! Don’t pluck your beautiful Brooke Shields eyebrows³! I plucked mine when I was younger and they never grew back.”

*File this under Times I Should Have Listened to My Mother.⁴*

Eyebrows circa 2014

Anyway, I have some eyebrows, but they are not a good shape. So I pencil in eyebrows. It is something I do for myself, so don’t try to convince me I don’t need to do this. Don’t worry. I’m not sporting those potato wedges that are so prolific these days.

But doesn’t that take such a long time??

Not when you do it nearly every day. In fact, it’s like art, so drawing is also a form of self care, right?

My attempt to show you the process

So there you have it. I don’t wear a ton of makeup, but my eyebrows are a must. They are a form of self care. My day can only go up from here, right?

How are you taking care of you today?

1. In the IT world, we refer to a security fix as a “patch.” For example, Microsoft releases patches, or updates, on the second Tuesday of the month. Any update that doesn’t fall into their regular schedule is called an “out-of-band patch.”

2. Peopling = human interaction

3. If you’re too young to understand this, they are a thing. Vogue wrote about it. There are photos, so don’t just take my word for it.

4. I won’t tell you how long that list is, but I think it’s ironic that I just wrote about a piece I did for The Listen to Your Mother Show.

Letting Go