We are quick to take care of our bodies when things change or injuries happen, so why don’t we usually act with the same urgency and agency when our hearts are the ones in pain? We leave things like heart care until last because the need seems less urgent, and yet we suffer more when we ignore the signs that something could be really wrong. Taking care of our bills, our families, our jobs often overpower the time and energy it takes to practice healthy heart care, and ironically all of the above suffer when we ignore the latter. The myth that taking care of ourselves should come last on our agendas as women needs to be debunked once and for all. If our hearts aren’t healthy, how can we expect to have healthy careers, relationships, and overall find satisfaction in our day-to-day lives?
Taking care of our hearts means learning to be intentional with our time, instead of reaching for our smartphones in the few minutes we lie awake in bed at night, it looks like grabbing a book instead. Even if it takes you a year to get through one chapter, reading forces us outside of ourselves to see the world from another perspective, and finding the story of another person who has an experience close to ours can offer a kinship and a comfort not found elsewhere.
Maybe it means going outside for a walk when we go on our lunch breaks instead of eating at our desks and spending all our time inside.
Maybe it means splurging this month on an exercise class we actually enjoy instead of the latte we pick up every morning from the coffee shop down the street.
Maybe it means spending time on the phone with our moms or our best friends instead of letting months pass with no time to catch up.
Maybe it means getting up 30 minutes earlier to make coffee and breakfast for ourselves instead of eating nothing and trying to get through our day on office coffee alone.
Maybe it means coming home from work and bringing our glass of wine with us into the shower to refresh our bodies after a long day and to relax our minds for some much needed time away from the hustle and flow of everyday.
Intentional, small decisions make bigger impacts than half-hearted attempts at major change. We don’t realize how detrimental not doing the little things are until we are burnt out at the end of the week instead of fulfilled, and taking care of our hearts goes beyond drinking green juice and running for 30 minutes on the treadmill. We have to be active participants in care taking of our hearts and learning to make the most of all the small moments in between class and work and life can truly make all the difference.
