What MY "SELF-CARE" Looks Like-Part 1-Mani/Pedi

What on earth does self care mean to you? We all have our own ideas & I’d love to share what my idea is & why. So much talk & expression about self care these days and while self care engagements aren’t really new, the use of this terminology has surely grown. I mean I don’t recall many people speaking about “self care” 10 years ago or so as much as I hear about it now. But then again, there’s alot that is becoming openly accepted and discussed. Maybe it had a different term. Either way, this what we talking about. So, to reduce the amount of publishings, I intend to group together what makes sense, for me, anyway.

When I lived in TX, after having started working in a healthcare facility, I was on my feet…ALOT!! So I decided since this job I had required me to be on my feet all the time, why not treat myself occasionally to pedicure. Sometimes I had my nails done too, but something within me understood that my feet were extremely important. And with the type of job I had the working with psych patients, I deserved all the perks that came with getting my hands and feet done.

Over the years, the services for hands and feet evolved. Definitely not a bad thing. Over the years from 2001 up until now, outside of covid, I was good for getting my feet done if nothing else once a month. Over the years, my occupation has been a direct care staff, CNA, CMA, LVN, Physical Therapist Asst, cycling instructor, core instructor and now yes, a yoga instructor. Nothing I have done for employment allows me to sit behind a desk or at a cubicle. And everything I have done involves me working directly with the public, in addition to being married and now having 3 kids. So yes…self care is important to me and while getting my hands and feet done are actually the least of my priorities, it is still important to me. If all I ever did was simply get my feet pampered, I’d be good.

3 hot steaming towels with clay masque still on my legs.-Heaven!

As far as feet go, over the years, I have learned what it means to invest in good shoes. Between long work shifts, teaching cycling, being in the gym on a regular and having been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in 2015, taking care of the feet, has truly become a consistent part of my own care. And wouldn’t you know, yoga has made me pay so much more attention to my feet in the subtlest of ways-grounding, weight distribution, understanding that being bare foot is actually more beneficial than wearing shoes all the time, how my fluctuations with weight caused me so much pain with my feet to the point that I dreaded getting out of my bed for nearly a year because I knew my weight was causing the pain in the my feet & knowing this & just dealing with going to the gym to lose weight knowing I would get relief, I realized how important my feet truly were to me. Actually, when I went to school for PT, it was here I began to realize the true value of taking care of your feet!

I know to some getting the feet done isn’t really that important but if you have the means to do anything, do it. I also engage in grounding or earthing where you walk bare foot on the earth to absorb energy and connect with source. Since I’m from Alabama, going bare foot is truly no stranger for me. Our feet work for us ALL DAY until we lay down to rest.

So I guess what I’m saying is, while taking care of my feet is of utmost important, the way by which I indulge with getting pedicures isn’t really a high priority. The type of shoes I wear, however, is quite important. I will spend money on quality shoes after the issues I’ve encountered over the years. If I tend to my other areas of self care, taking care of my feet, happens automatically. But since you asked, here’s what I typically get done to my feet as of the past 2 years or so specifically-of course the soaking in the basin of water. I typically request for my water to be the level of hell hot. I really like hot water. They do their regular thing with getting the polish off, cuticle treatment, cheese grater scraper on the feet, some measure of using a scrub. Then comes my favorite part-they put that cold ass clay on my legs that has menthol in it so it feels cold and tingly. Then, I request paraffin wax for my feet. This helps with moisturizing the feet. While the clay masque is on my legs, they wrap hot steamy towels on each of my legs, then an additional one on my feet while my feet are sealed in a plastic bad with the paraffin. After some time, they take the paraffin off, wipe of the clay, and sometimes I request hot stone massage, but it’s rare. After they wipe the clay, they massage my legs with oil and proceed to complete my feet. Nothing fancy. And when they are done, I feel like i’m walking on air! Take care of your feet so they can take care of you.