My new best friend

I have recently met someone who I really like and am getting to know better each day. This person was sort of a stranger for many years because I had neglected my relationship with her. It's me. I am learning to appreciate myself, more importantly to show myself that I appreciate myself, by taking care of me. How do I do this? Well it may seem really simple for most people, but it is a new concept for me. First, when I notice that I have a need or a want, I acknowledge that fact. Then I see what I can do to fulfil it. For example, I knew a month back that I was in need of companionship, so I called to all my girlfriends and said, "Hey, I need to hang out with people on these two nights, because I don't want to be alone." And you know what, I had my need met.(See "Tonight I sailed into the sunset.) Amazing. Another example, today I really was tired, but I felt that I needed to do something to take care of myself while the kids were with M. So I had my haircut. I needed a trim, and also really like how it feels to have a shampoo, so I did it. An immediate mood lifter. Nothing like a scalp massage. These are simple things, but for a very long time, I would stuff these kinds of needs way down. I would sacrifice for various reasons, not that sacrifice is bad, it is part of parenting, but we do need to take care of ourselves to be the best parents we can be.
Here are some things I enjoy with my new best friend: walking, reading, blogging, going shopping, visiting the library, having tea, taking a long hot shower, hula hooping, painting toenails, getting hair cuts, sewing and more. I also like how my new friend isn't jealous of my other friendships, she has no problem sharing me, she is great that way. : )