self care | The Healthy Houdat

It’s been a rough six weeks personally. Major things have happened in life, either one after another, or overlapping. Family (especially sweet Ava’s surgery and recovery), Pretty Momma Honda, the apartment…almost no stone has been left unturned, except maybe the awesome health news I received that another thyroid module resolved, and I’m making progress on my gum health (which is important as it is linked to heart disease). For someone who tries to find the positive in everything, it’s been fairly trying.

So it’s fitting that something the Archbishop said during the ordination Mass last Saturday has stuck with me. He encouraged the ordinands to empty themselves so God may fill them with the Holy Spirit (paraphrasing here as I don’t recall the exact words). As I continue to develop my spiritual health, this was a reminder to keep giving it over to Jesus…to empty myself of worry and doubt and let Him fill me with what was meant to be in my life at this time.

And this also brought me back to a heightened awareness of energy. A friend shared this article a few months back about masculine/feminine energy in our lives. You have to get past it being posted on a dating site, but it is some awesome advice, especially if you are a Type A like me … a doer and achiever. Basically, when we feel WIPED out, it is because we are spending too much time on that achiever end of the scale, and not as much on the creative side.

The more I work to include creativity, movement, and fun opportunities in my life, the more painfully aware I have become that my two sides often battle! But I’m glad I’m making space for the other side. I loved to craft and dance as a kid, and putting these and other things like regular yoga practice into my world have made me feel more whole lately. They even gave me the confidence to work on my nutrition this month … and after a week of being gluten and dairy free, I’m down a good 3 lbs! (Again it’s balance. I’m not giving up po boys forever, but I can see doing this for weeks at a time to balance out the amazing life and food we have access to here in New Orleans.)

What do you do to balance your energies? How do you empty yourself out so you can be filled by good?

It would have been easy to let today be “one of those Mondays”…first day after springing forward (never easy for night owls!), first full week at work after Mardi Gras, nine days out from first big event at the new gig. If you’ve ever managed an event, you know there’s many details that pop up as you approach the day, which takes time away from other duties. It’s a fine juggling act, to say the least.

But even in moments of high activity, we can pause and find joy both for ourselves and others. At lunchtime, I took a break to walk to a nearby sandwich shop. As I walked in, Journey’s “Separate Ways” was playing…one of my all-time favorites from them. It sparks good memories for me, and the wonderfully cheesy video was filmed right here in New Orleans more than 30 years ago (yikes, that’s been a while!).

So when I heard the staff behind the counter discussing how it was also someone’s favorite, I had to ask if they knew about the NOLA tie. They did not! So I happily told them about it and encouraged them to Google to get the full story behind the video.

It was the smallest moment, but one which sparked joy for several people at once. So the next time you have a day that’s busy, stressful, or not going how you hoped, I challenge you to look for a spark of joy. You never know what it can do for you or someone else!