In the Beginning

How did My Benefit Journal evolve into a blog? I won’t say that the idea to start this blog came solely from being in quarantine due to COVID-19, but I will say it gave me a good push in this direction. Life as we knew it became DIFFERENT! Everything that we knew to be “normal” had become almost banned. School & work had closed and parents and children were forced to learn and work remotely from home. Non-essential shopping had been canceled, social gatherings canceled, and visiting loved ones was strongly advised against.

As a mom, remote learning and working was okay in the beginning. Initially, the perks of being home was that I didn’t have to worry about morning and afternoon traffic, I was able to squeeze in a few extra minutes of rest for myself and the children, dinner could be started earlier, and maybe just maybe on my break I could steal a power nap. Maybe for the the first few weeks, this was cool with me until it wasn’t cool anymore and cabin fever had set in.I began to miss my parents, relatives, and friends. I even missed the luxury of going into the office for work. The disruption of my normal flow of life began to take a toll on me personally, mentally, emotionally, and financially.

As a means to focus on developing self care routines to help me with this new way of life I took an interest in plants. In April, I bought my first 2 plants from Home Depot, and by the end of the summer I had close to 30 plants. Plant care became apart of my daily routine and it gave me something new to look forward to in my day. Learning the different species of plants, how they grow, and what they needed to thrive. Not only were the plants aesthetically pleasing to my home, but caring for them became therapeutic. I would speak plant to anyone who was and was not willing to listen.

Why is it so easy to think and focus on the negative? Especially when it requires so much energy!

At the beginning of Spring 2020, I faced several personal, mental, and emotional challenges that put me in a funky space. While in that space, I naturally shifted back to actively journaling to express myself in the most raw and authentic way. One part of the journal that I was using had a section that required me to do a daily check-in with myself. It asks about how I feel, the best and challenging part of the day, self care routines, and goals for the next day. I journaled for two weeks and then decided to go back and look at my range of feelings and emotions, and boy oh boy! talk about a rollercoaster. I found that I struggled with having a self care routine that didn’t include other people, and that I struggled trying to pinpoint the best part of my day. However, answering the challenging part of the day was easy peasy.

Fast forward to now, I thought long and hard about myself and my own self care. The kind of self care that was more than pampering myself but self care that catered to my entire being. Unfortunately, thinking solely about myself was a challenge, which has now turned into a challenge that I am ready to conquer. I’ve decided to put the roles and titles ascribed to me on the back burner and moving forward with intentionally putting myself first.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup,” well this is my journey to make sure my cup stays full.

Let’s begin!