It took me the high way to know how important it was to take care of myself. At a point, I was so swamped with work that I forgot if anything happened to me, my work would find my replacement and it would still go on. Well, something did happen and they found a replacement until I got better and now? You don’t need to tell me to put me first.
I always have a busy schedule and most times, you’ll never see me at one place. Today I’m here, tomorrow I’m there except I’m off work. The number one thing I do when I wake up on those busy days is to drink water. To be very honest, I hate drinking water but when I know how hectic the day is going to be, I drag myself to gulp about 500ml of it very early in the morning. Sometimes even at dawn.
The next thing I do is to break my fast. I underrated the importance of breakfast until I was taken to the hospital one day. Now? I always make sure to eat breakfast before going about a busy day. As someone who isn’t a fan of milo or anything chocolate in the morning, I have oats or tom brown with bread and friends eggs. I never step out of the house on an empty stomach.
I make sure to take breaks in between, regardless of the kind of deadlines haunting me during a hectic day. This helps my mental health a lot. I realized the impact taking breaks have on my productivity level is very significant. Most times, all I need is a step away from my desk and whatever I’m doing, so I make sure to take as many steps as possible.
During one of those breaks, I eat a lot of food. Knowing very well that I might be so tired that I will probably not have the strength to have real supper, I make sure to eat well in the afternoon. Most times, I’m always hungry in the afternoon so it makes it very convenient for me to grab a ball of kenkey or anything heading in the direction of a balanced diet.
After 5pm, I drop everything and spend time with my mom. I realized that she always have something to tell me about how her day went at work so my 5pm is for her no matter how tired I am. Those conversations make me laugh a lot and that’s enough therapy for me on busy days where I’m mentally drained.
I don’t have a regular time table I follow to stay healthy on such days. But the one thing I never forget is a lot of H2O and probably more of the O. Looks like my science came out to play today but you know what I mean, I take a lot of water and breathe.
Images are mine