Fill Your Tank Challenge Day 2

My personal priority in our Fill Your Tank Challenge this month has to do with physical fitness and awareness. The truth is that  poor emotional management  often goes back to the physical. So here's the scoop on what my body was saying to me yesterday, and what I did to take care of myself. Be inspired!

By lunchtime yesterday, I was fighting a near-migraine level headache, hungry, and exhausted after a "crazy" week of exceptions. See what I did to keep myself on track for my busy evening last night.

Flat Your Back. This is a Filipino tradition, which is similar to a nap. The idea here is to get completely off your feet and, well, flat on your back, regardless of whether or not you actually sleep. For me, I do this when I am too tired to even do my focus tic-tac-toe. I find that it is the easiest way to get out of the "mom fog." My mind clears after about 10-15 minutes. What I realized yesterday, was that I was thirsty! Have you ever gotten so busy that you just didn't drink enough water?

Water, obviously is necessary for a clear head, especially when things are more challenging than usual. Often, too, it can make the difference between whether or not you have a headache. A twist on this is drinking it plain and HOT, which brings us to my next remedy from yesterday:

Heat. When I lived and worked in China, I learned firsthand the value of avoiding ice, drinking hot, and keeping my body heat even. It has to do with our metabolism, but since I am not a health guru, lets just say that it is by experience only that I know it works to stay warm. Using this technique has frequently made the difference between being at a painful standstill and  making it though the day alive for me! Being off this pattern in two particulars yesterday is the suspected cause of my having the headache episode in the first place: I was barelegged (i.e. cold legged!) in  a relatively short dress, and had had nothing hot and soupy for breakfast. Although it seems counterintuitive going into the warm weather, it pays to stay in breathable layers, and to have a hot liquid breakfast! I used a moist heat pack on my neck, and made a Chinese breakfast soup for a late lunch and felt loads better by the end of the meal. Try it!

Neuro-kinetic Flow Improvement. I have recently found a fourth thing from the T-tapp fitness routine which makes a difference as well. It is called Primary Back Stretch, and just doing this without any repetitions alone relieved knee and hips pain for me, kept me "warm," and helped me sleep better. I will be talking about this throughout our challenge, and how it's helping me. I do one right before going to bed, and it helps me sleep better! As you can guess, I didn't miss doing it last night! On to the full workout later today!

My personal challenge is to work out 21 out of 30 days this month!

Days left:

21

What's your personal self-care challenge?