I spent the first two weeks of quarantine at home in bed, under the covers watching Netflix with my pint of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
I was scared and my coping mechanism was to sleep, to eat, and to watch.
After two weeks I decided enough was enough, eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream wasn’t satisfying (at least not in the amount of quantities that I was having it) and I decided to do something different, not anything drastic.
What did I decide?
Daily walks at the park.
And you know what this brought out? My love for the outdoors that I had as a child, but completely forgotten. I would spend hours of my summer outside in the woods, climbing trees… to find a good spot to finish my book. I didn’t care about my hair, getting too kissed by the sun, or anything else.
So every weekday from Monday – Friday I drove my ass to the park and walked. It became a sacred part of my day that was luxurious.
But then, when our shelter in place was soon to be lifted in June, and we started getting to the crux of you-need-to-be-drenched-in-cold-water-shower every time you leave your air conditioned car or house weather in Texas.
I almost freaked out.
“But my hair?” I thought to myself.
I get a blowout at least 1x a month, sometimes 2x a month and like any millennial who loves a good blowout, I try to make it last as LONG AS POSSIBLE.
Humidity isn’t my friend.
“If I go to the park everyday, there’s no way my hair’s going to be straight straight every day.
Ugh.
I’m not about to invest 2 hours every day caring for my hair myself.
Nope.
What about a wig or weave?
Also, nope.”
Then, it hit me, I was willing to go back to not walking for the sake of VANITY and BEAUTY.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Absolutely not. I’m worthy of a healthy body. I will continue my daily walks at the park, and get my blowouts, and if I need to get another blowout that’s what I’ll do. If not, my hair will have fizz, curl, or what have you and that’s fine.”
I decided that my body was worthy of daily movement and vanity in the name of beauty wasn’t an excuse to not love my body and give it priority.
You are worthy of a body that’s healthy, wealthy, and whole. Don’t allow vanity or beauty to jack that up.
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Hi! I’m Melodee Forbes, and I help leaders declutter their calendar, so they can create more time for self care. I’d be happy to support you in decluttering your physical items and digital systems. You can start to create more self care by clicking here.
