How I take care of myself living alone - rural tiny home

the lake outside my house has begun to  freeze over and i'm starting to brace   myself every time i open the door of my  cottage and the biting wind pushes through   consequently it was time to stock up my pantry and  pick out some new teas to use over the winter i   remember reading the line from emerson there is  a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a   cup of tea and i really like that saying i think  it is very true for me brewing a cup of tea along   with breakfast is a simple and wholesome form of  self-care i begin the day with the accomplishment   of nourishing my body and in my case small  achievements like this need to be celebrated one way i take care of myself in winter is  that i welcome my most comfortable clothes   particularly sweaters and my favorite cozy skirts  which are very warm which is unnecessary here   dresses and i also wear leggings in connection  to my last video one way that i've tried to feel   more comfortable in my skin has been through  finding clothes that have a comforting texture   and making sure they fit me well with room  for movement if i'm at all self-conscious   or uncomfortable my attention is drawn inward  and my general enjoyment of the day is affected   an important part of improving my own mental  health is to practice seeing the world   truly seeing it instead of constantly being in  my own head more than i want to one way i do   this is by making sure i feel comfortable it is  definitely easy to dress for others instead of   ourselves and that is one reason i began to  embrace the styles of clothes i truly enjoy i remember when i was a little girl my  abuela lived with us for several years   i begged her to sew me a very long old-fashioned  looking dress so that i could wear it to school   i was in love with beatrix potter at the time  and i apparently wanted to emulate a person   that had not been alive for over 70 years while  i studied at home for the most part i did take a   few science classes at a local middle school and  on my first day i wore that dress with boots i'd   found at the salvation army i definitely looked  a little strange and i find it hilarious that   i was willing to walk into that school looking  like i had stepped out of 1901 i've definitely   modernized my fashion since then and i now enjoy  dresses along with jeans and leggings and all the   lovely modern clothes i own i do however love how  confident i was in my wardrobe as a 13 year old   even if i was not always confident in myself  i still take inspiration from her to this day i have made a change in my life  recently that has proved quite helpful   especially in the winter when i'm indoors more  and in the quiet company of my own thoughts   and that has been to distance myself from a  constant onslaught of tragic and negative news   i tend to listen to audiobooks now while i drive  instead of the radio and this has helped a lot   of course it's so important to stay informed  and understand what's going on in our world   and i believe that i also think we need to take  breaks when it is necessary and also balance   negative news with positive with only a couple  quick searches i'm able to find so many forces for   good in the world right now which are often not  being talked about nearly as much as they should   it is a good reminder that while we should  honor our feelings associated with tragic news   we can then also spend energy going out and  sharing love and kindness with someone and being   part of something just as worthy of being on the  news this practice has been so healing for me it's   amazing how you don't realize the impact media  has on you until you step away from it in order to   find a balance between consuming it and going out  into the world to be the change you want to see hello everyone i hope you're all having a  wonderful day it's been just a really great   week over here i started at the bookstore and i'm  just enjoying it so much this time of year all the   little shops in town put up their christmas  lights and then it snows and it's just so   magical walking through it it really feels  like a thomas kincaid painting you know like   one of those paintings of the little idyllic  little towns it's really cute i just love   walking around after it snowed and all the holiday  decorations are up so i'm really excited it's been   so much fun and working at the  bookstore has made me realize   how important it was for me to put a  little more balance in my life between   home life and work life and working in town it's  it's been really positive even though i've only   just started working there i really realized i  kind of wasn't in balance with the amount of time   i was spending at home working and going out and  being in a different environment and interacting   with people is really really helpful so i've been  really enjoying it in last week's video i got some   amazing comments and emails and letters from all  of you explaining your own personal journeys with   body image and disorders and addiction and it was  really meaningful to read my fiance he put it very   well once he said that to make room for new things  in our life and good things in our life we often   have to take out other things to make space for it  and i think in so many cases that's very true you   know for me there was a lot of bad habits i really  had to replace with much healthier ways to spend   my time and also for me personally as a artist  and lover of stories and fairy tales and you   know all types of art for me replacing unhealthy  escapism with healthy forms of escapism was just   absolutely crucial for my journey of health and  recovery and that is something that i still do   a lot today for example you know creating art  getting a job in town when i felt like i was   at home and in my own head a little bit too  much really finding that harmony and balance   definitely working at the bookstore has really  helped because i have become even more passionate   about books in such a short amount of time it's  so exciting to talk to people about books and get   book recommendations since it's one of my favorite  forms of healthy escapism you know i love to just   step into another story another reality for a  little while it is so you know therapeutic to do   this time of year i always for some reason  get attracted to mythology and folk tales   and looking into the stories of other cultures  and also my own and especially the ancient stories   that have been passed on through generations and  that is something i've been doing recently i have   been reading some books on native american myths  and legends which are fascinating and also some   polynesian myths and folk tales and it's been  really interesting the book of polynesian stories   is kind of a word for word translation so i have  sometimes really gotten lost while reading it   but it's been really fun to just you know look  into it and get to learn about the stories of   other cultures and to see also the similarities  so many different stories from around the world   all kind of have as well so many similarities and  a lot of the same topics that are being examined   such as what is honor what does family mean how  do we face our fears how can we have courage   when we're scared of the world or we're scared of  something and i find those stories very comforting   because it makes me feel like my ancestors who  lived a thousand years ago are still you know   asking the same questions and still experiencing  the world in a way that i can still relate to on   some levels and i just i've absolutely loved  getting back into some old myths and legends   i have a book on stories of the taino people from  puerto rico and i was reading it last night and   one of the stories was about the chupacabra and  if you are hispanic you've probably heard of the   legend of the chupacabra it's very popular in  some areas it is a legendary monster and the   story i was reading was really really scary so i  just felt like i was such a baby i could it took   me a long time to sleep that night it was it was  really spooky so if you're looking into the old   myths and legends of your  people i highly encourage you   but um be careful because they really didn't  mess around in those stories some of them can   be really really spooky so after reading  some stories from puerto rico i was really   motivated to revisit some of my favorite puerto  rican recipes and i've been having a lot of fun   especially because my mom has a really great book  on traditional puerto rican recipes that i've been   looking at some of my favorite recipes from the  book are arroz con pollo pao coquito i really love   coquito it's kind of like puerto rican eggnog it's  made with coconut milk it's really really good so   i thought that i would share some of those  traditional recipes during this winter when i   make them for my family because they are delicious  and i've been really motivated recently to   try old recipes but also new recipes and really  get involved more in my cultural traditional foods   on my mother's side so i've been very excited  about that anyway i hope you all have a wonderful   day or night thank you again for reaching out  to me with your very personal and kind messages   and it has been so appreciated some of them  were really really touching this week and   yeah and and i wanted to say thank you i know i'm  not always able to respond to everyone and know   that i read them and i do appreciate them i always  put a blurb in the description bar of my videos   but do let me know that if you have been expecting  a postcard from me and you haven't received it   please send me an email i have my email in the  description bar because the us postal system   and just the mail system in general in the u.s is  just going insane it has been going crazy all year   it has been really hard to manage and it's been  very unpredictable when things are delivered and i   have noticed a couple postcards and even a couple  packages have been lost in the mail this year   and it's it's been it's been a wild ride so please  email me if you're expecting something for me   and you haven't received it because i really  want to do my best to make sure that everyone   gets what they were expecting and and that's very  important to me so so please do let me know don't   be shy you know i really i really want to  get things to you if if you are expecting   them so i hope you have a wonderful day or  night and i will see you next week take care what are you doing what are  you doing what are you doing you

Channel: TheCottageFairy

Views: 4,448,345

Keywords: Self care in winter, Loving yourself, Finding comfortable clothes, Winter self care, Slow living in winter

Id: 7AeMhVN-TFA

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 25 2021