You’ve come this far, why not venture just a little bit farther? Divorce is not fun; I think we know that!
There are so many details to attend to, other people to think about, and just general daily grind kind of stuff that needs to be handled. It may become tempting to overlook self-care. In fact, self-care may not even occur to you, or you may think it’s a great to-do when you are done with the divorce. Don’t fall into that trap!
Yoga—be it power, restorative, hot, laughter, aerial, or whatever—can easily be dismissed as not necessary to an exercise practice. After all, what’s a little stretching compared to the hardcore activities of cardio, strength and interval training?
Let me paint a little mental image for you. Think about the ultra pumped-up guy you see at the gym or the beach. Have you ever noticed how he can barely bend at the hips to tie his shoe? Or that gal who runs miles every day but has to eventually give it up because her back is pretty much destroyed? They lacked balance in their training, both literally and figuratively. As a result, they are stunted in what they can do.
The same thing can happen to you if you ignore your self-care throughout your divorce. It can be so easy to slate yourself at the bottom of the list, if you even make the list at all. You may totally rock the practical facets of your divorce, but failing to pay attention to yourself is going to leave you unbalanced, in flexible, and broken.
In my own life, I was so focused on survival that I didn’t even think about myself beyond getting through the day. Fortunately, I did a few things anyway that were good for me and provided some basis for rebuilding myself and my life after the fact, but it didn’t have to be so hard!
Excerpt from DIVORCE is a PUSH UP: Get Strong to Get Through. ©2016 Laura Aiello
About Lori Denman-Underhill
