Taking “care” during a busy season
- Sophie
- Apr 29
- 2 min read
Last year my word of the year was “care”, and I used it a lot (after a very stressful 2023). To remind myself I always have options to take care of myself, those around me, of my environment. This year, my word of the year has been courage, but… I haven’t used it. And during this very busy season of work (with teaching commitments, grant applications, professional development program, all happening at once) - I’ve realised I need to turn back to care.
So today, that’s what I did. Yesterday work was flat out, and last night O was awake overnight, and I work up with a sore throat. Uh oh. I had planned to attend two in person meetings an hour drive away this morning, then rushed back to complete some urgent tasks this afternoon, before driving my daughter to a scouts activity at 4.30 this afternoon. But as I sipped my coffee this morning, I’ve started reading Gentle by Courtney Carver, which is a a great reminder of these principles. So I asked myself “what would care look like?” And I realised- I can attend these meeting online from home. (They both have virtual attendance options). Would it be ideal to attend in person? Yes, if it wasn’t a crazy week! But by switching to virtual, I saved myself two hours of commuting time, which meant I could leave to drop O 40 minutes later than originally planned, and still have time to stop for coffee on the way home before logging in.
I kept asking myself what care would look like all day. I logged off one meeting early to prepare for the next one (they were back to back in the calendar). I took a walk at lunchtime in the sunshine. I rescheduled another meeting from 9am tomorrow to make tomorrow also less frantic. And tonight, after dropping E at her Scouts activity (which is 30 mins drive from home), instead of trying to do more work while I waited for her, I had a beer and a veggie jungle curry (so yum!), and wrote this blog post.
Choosing “care” in a few small ways had essentially zero negative consequences from a work perspective, yet it was very helpful for my experience of the day, and helped me stay calm and productive. I think I’ll keep care as my word of the year for the rest of 2025, after all!
Do others have a helpful mantra or principle to get through stressful periods? What would “care” look like to you?
That curry looks so good!! I love curry!
Self care for me usually involves a nap or laying down to rest! I struggle to do that during the week but it is part of nearly every weekend usually both days!!
I actually don't have a helpful mantra or principle to get through stressful periods. I usually won't think of a period as "stressful" or "not stressful" until several months after the fact.
I assume you meant what caring for myself would look like to me, Sophie. I consider doing things to enhance my health and me doing things that are not responses to external requests as caring for myself. And no, I don't consider commenting on this blog post of yours to be in opposition to me caring for myself, Sophie.
In the meantime, yes, I think that this season has got to be busy if you have grant applications to do.
That curry looks delicious!
Last year was my "Year of Shmita" and I really took it to heart. I reset in a big way and while I don't spend a lot of time consciously thinking about it now, I realize it has had what I assume to be a life-long impact on how I view the world and my time.
I've gotten A LOT better about realizing what things actually need to be done and what can be tweaked (as in the case with your attending virtually and saving 2 hours of commute time).
Care is a great word. Life is short and sometimes we make it harder on ourselves than we need to, so I award you a whole…