It has been a few weeks since San Diego Comic Con, giving me enough time to rest and relax and regain my energy. Because I no longer live in San Diego, attending meant traveling. I am fortunate to have friends who let me stay with them for a few days, and fortunate that I had a hotel room for a few days as well. I focused on one day at a time, missed a few things, focused on enjoying the moment, and I had one of the best SDCC experiences I've had in all the years I have attended. But being away from home and being at a convention is exhausting. Upon returning, I focused on self care, which unfortunately meant neglecting the blog for a little bit. This makes me think of time management and seeing to my personal needs post-con. For me, this blog matters, and sharing things that may be helpful, even to just one person, is very important. But spending time with loved ones matters more, as is taking care of my overall health.
Coming back from the con, I was super exhausted for about a week! My sleep schedule was off, and I was totally zapped by Thursday that week. My exhaustion meant I spent more time trying to regain my energy and less time engaging in my usual routine, which involves a 30 minute run and watching something new on TV. Being too exhausted meant moving more slowly, and having no energy for any type of workout, or for watching anything new because mentally I couldn't really process anything new. I knew I couldn't just jump back into the routine, especially with the post-con blues, which are totally normal!
I needed to give myself permission to only focus on a few things: debriefing, sleep, and skin care. This was my cure for the post-con blues!
Debriefing meant stepping back and looking at the experience as a whole, the different things I enjoyed, and sharing those things with my fiance. It also meant expressing gratitude that I was able to go, that I was able to enjoy it with my loved ones, that I had a good time, and that I caught up with a couple of friends. It meant being okay with not having met everybody I wanted to meet, and being okay with not having the energy to attend after-parties this time.
My sleep schedule was way off, so I tried to sleep more and to improve my quality of sleep. I am not ashamed to share that I have a prescription for medication to help me sleep at night because I am not one of those fortunate individuals who can sleep on demand! I have had this prescription for a while, and even though I don't always use it, I did for the entire week after in order to have better quality sleep, in order to have a chance at functioning better during the day.
I will always be the person who says that we all have different needs, and only you know what you need. One of the things I needed that week after SDCC was to pay more attention to my skin routine. Maybe I'll write a post about this later, but I have been implementing a 10-step Korean beauty routine at night and I am very happy with the results. The 10 steps are not to be done every night, and I sometimes only do 4 steps. It takes anywhere between 5-20 minutes depending on what you are doing. After the con I made it a point to do each one. Perhaps some of you might find it vain, selfish, or ridiculous to spend so much time on your face, and that's okay. You do you! Self-care means doing what you need to do to take care of yourself. For me, taking care of my skin is important. I have freckles, which I have grown to love over the years, but I also have certain dark spots in my face that I am wary of, which got darker after spending so much time in the sun. I am always wary of these ever since college when I worked for a dermatologist who emphasized the importance of sunblock to protect against skin cancer. I looked forward to engaging in each step of my skin care routine, and I took my time, being gentle with my face, enjoying the feeling and scent of each product, and enjoying the clean feeling after.
The things that I chose to do less of included home cooking, watching new TV series, exercise, and cleaning. I gave myself permission to eat whatever I craved that week...fortunately I craved mostly fresh foods and water. I simply did not have the energy for exercise or cleaning, but instead of beating myself up about it, I reminded myself I needed to rest. I spent a lot of time watching The Golden Girls instead of something new that would need more mental processing.
Basically, I spent that week pampering myself in different ways and allowing myself to do less of other things even if they were important to me, if it meant I could regain my energy and recover from exhaustion, which was more important.
This has been a longer self-care post than usual, so I will stop here. I know other big conventions are coming up for some of you! Think about what you'd like to get out of the experience. I hope that you have fun, and I hope that you take care of yourselves before, during, and after. Give yourselves permission to be open to the full con experience. Give yourselves permission to miss out on a few things because you can't be everywhere. Enjoy your con one day at a time, and always, always remember to take care of yourselves.♥
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