Your Poetry Oracle: Week of May 8

Your fortune for the week from Self Love Poetry is here

Welcome to the Self Love Confidential Poetry Oracle, where the universe sends you the message you need to hear by way of a poem from one of my books. I’ll select the weekly poem(s) by trusting my intuition, the very thing I hope you’ll start to do as a member of this self love community.

If you’ve got too much on your plate, this week’s oracle is for you.

Self Love Poetry, page 19.

I didn’t realize how much I was carrying until I put it all down.

This past weekend, I celebrated Mother’s Day. How did I celebrate? By gifting myself 36 hours away from my life as a mother. Instead of the usual Mother’s Day brunch, this year I whisked my mom away to the desert where for one night and two days, we sat in the sun, ate too many chips, talked about nothing and everything, and simply existed without a schedule.

I thought I knew how much I needed this time away, but the truth is, it didn’t really hit me until a few hours into our blissful nothingness. No pick ups, no drop offs, no groceries. No emails, no text messages, no “can you please just take a bite?” No coordinating life with my partner, no deadlines to meet, no emptying and refilling the dishwasher and washing machine. It took a few hours to put it all down, to melt into the weightlessness of owing nothing to nobody. Oh the expansiveness of an uncluttered mind — who knew this feeling was even possible?

Of course, it’s not always possible to give yourself a complete vacation. This particular one took having an incredibly hands-on, wonderful partner, and also the means to book a hotel room. I understand both of these things are not always within reach. That being said, I wonder if there is a way for us to find ways to put it all down, even while still living our daily lives. Maybe that means having your groceries delivered this week instead of going to the store, or setting an auto reply for your emails so you can have an uninterrupted block of work time. Maybe it means taking 30 minutes in your garden without your phone, or going for a walk when you’d normally do the dishes (I’ve recently learned — you don’t have to do the dishes right away, no matter how pressing it may feel to have a perfectly ordered home at all times). How can you simplify the week ahead? How can you make it easier on yourself? How can you — prioritize YOU?

The challenge is to be open to doing less of what weighs you down to create space for feeling less burdened and more free — without feeling guilty about it.

Me making the most of my weekend getaway. Hello sunblock and an Aperol Spritz.

How do you avoid feeling guilty about it? By filling yourself with gratitude for the moment you’re in, for the choices you’ve made, and for who you are. Gratitude is the antidote to guilt. As you can see in my picture above, I didn’t feel a drop of guilt about taking this weekend for myself.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which means it is the perfect time to take some time for you. If your arm was broken, you’d certainly go to the doctor and tone down the physical labor to give yourself time to recover. Imagine if we treated mental health the same way?

Consider scheduling that overdue therapy appointment, and also taking a me day (or weekend). Chances are, you won’t realize how much you’ve been carrying until you do. Leave a comment and commit to your plan for taking care of YOU.