My mom is wise. While drinking coffee yesterday she asked, “When you have time alone are you nurturing yourself or escaping?”
Whoa. This is deep so I’m gonna say it again.
Are you NURTURING yourself or ESCAPING?
They’re different, you know.
When you nurture yourself, you finish your activity and say…. Ah yes, I feel more full, more whole, more ME. When you escape, you may have just spent time alone and enjoy what you were doing, but you finish your activity and you feel more drained, stretched. You haven’t filled your tank back up, you’ve just gone deeper under the red line.
The trouble is most of us think our escape activities are nurturing activities.
My escape activities include watching TV, hopping on Facebook, reading a good book, having a glass of wine, calling someone on the phone.
My nurturing activities include painting alone, meditating, a walk in nature, a bath, sitting and doing nothing.
Everyone’s list is going to be a bit different. Don’t think that just because reading a good book makes you feel happy, it nurtures you. Tune in and see how you feel AFTERWARDS. Do you feel more energized, whole, yourself, or not?
Comment below. What do you do to escape? What do you do to nurture yourself?
