Chapter no 24
chapter 24 rest is a right, not a reward if you have been viewing care tasks as moral, it is likely you either a) never stop moving, feel anxious and overwhelmed, and are constantly exhausted or b) lack motivation, feel paralyzed and overwhelmed, and are constantly exhausted. They are really two sides of the same […]
Chapter no 23
chapter 23 gentle skill building: changing bedsheets an old parenting hack is to layer multiple sheets and mattress protectors onto a kid’s mattress so that middle-of-the-night accidents are easy to address. Despite knowing this trick, many parents who struggle with getting their own bedsheets changed don’t think to try it on themselves. The mattress protector […]
Chapter no 22
chapter 22 good enough is perfect for several months I have gone to bed with my kitchen clean. The secret? I don’t care what my front hallway looks like. It gets to look however it wants. It’s none of my business. My clothes always get put up on washday because I stopped caring if they […]
Chapter no 21
chapter 21 gentle self-talk: “i am allowed to be human” someone once commented, “Do you have any suggestions for self- affirmations? I try to do them, but I just don’t ever believe them.” To be honest, I have conflicting feelings on self-affirmations. During my eighteen months in drug rehab they often told us to look […]
Chapter no 20
chapter 20 caring for your body when you hate it when I was seven, my mom took me to the SPCA and told me I could pick out a cat. I walked straight to the back of the rows of cages and found the rattiest little cat you’ve ever seen in your life. Her tail […]
Chapter no 19
chapter 19 when it’s hard to shower it is more common than you would think for people to have barriers to hygiene. Whether those barriers are physical or mental, it is the care area where people feel the most shame in not being able to keep up. Remember that showering is functional and not moral. […]
Chapter no 18
chapter 18 when you don’t have kids can I tell you a something about having kids? While it did create more mess than I had before and it does make completing tasks more difficult at times, in some ways having kids actually made care tasks easier for me. Caring for kids naturally necessitates having a […]
Chapter no 17
chapter 17 gentle skill building: doing the dishes i am going to talk about dishes now. Here are the ground rules: If you have cried over dishes in the past seven days—go buy paper plates. If your dishes have been in the sink for months—throw them away. If you are wanting to tackle the pile […]
Chapter no 16
chapter 16 drop the plastic balls jennifer Lynn Barnes, a YA author, tweeted: One time, I was at a Q&A with Nora Roberts, and someone asked her how to balance writing and kids, and she said that the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are […]
Chapter no 15
chapter 15 you can’t save the rain forest if you’re depressed you are not responsible for saving the world if you are struggling to save yourself. If you must use paper plates for meals or throw away recycling in order to gain better functioning, you should do so. When you are functioning again, you will […]