Sick in summer? Introducing the Self Care Menu

I have a confession to make – I have a cold. What I thought were bizarre seasonal allergies turned out to be a cold! How can a Certified Holistic Health Counselor have a cold?! In summer! I’ll tell you, it has more to do with stress than anything else. As you know, I've been burning the candle at both ends. Writing furiously with my book deadline looming, riding my bike with my 2.5 year old son on the back to the Co-op to buy high-quality, low-price organic food, cooking fresh food daily, working with clients, re-organizing my business and NOT TAKING TIME FOR SELF-CARE have all added up to a summer cold.Full-time women, those of us who are "on" 24/7 for work and/or family,  just don't make ourselves a priority. We see the needs of others so easily, but put our own needs at the bottom of the list. Something I counsel my clients about regularly is how important it is to take care of yourself with pampering, stress-reduction techniques, natural body care and emotional soothing. So, this week, I am committed to ordering at least one item from my self-care menu every day to get myself and my energy back on track:- yoga- meditation- sugar-scrub in the steam room at the Y- meeting up for iced tea with friends in the park- reading a magazine in my hammock- going to bed early- dancing to at least 1 song in my house every day- saying NO to one time-commitment this week Choose a rewarding, healing activity every day this week - it can take 5 minutes to walk through the aisles of the library or 30 minutes to watch a funny episode of the Family Guy on www.hulu.com - and it's free. Print out your own self-care menu and add a few additional ideas on there - crafting, gardening, reading, boxing, singing, writing poetry. Whatever works! Here's to your health,Alexandra