Cleanse: My Word of The Year

Hello there and Happy New Year. Is it too late to say that? I hope not because I haven’t gotten around to blogging this year and you deserve to be wished a Happy New Year.  So each year, I like to select a word of the year and this year my word is cleanse. Believe it or not I came up with this word while in the shower. To me there is nothing better than a hot shower or bath. Anyway, about 3 week ago, I was showering and just so happened to read the bottle on my face wash (Philosophy: Purity) and the last sentence says: ” To begin feeling young again, we must begin with the most basic step of all; the daily ritual of cleansing.” This was my Oprah ah-ha moment.

Over the past few months, I have been exhausted both mentally and physically. Mostly because I’ve been sick. In the past 2 months, I’ve  had a double ear infection, strep throat, bronchiolitis, the flu, and an upper respiratory infection. Prior to this, I was almost never sick. What changed? 1. I started working at an early head start childcare center. I love children but man they are some germy little creatures. 2. I wasn’t getting enough sleep. And last but not least, I was eating out about 2 to 3 time almost every day. Basically, my body didn’t have a chance. Talk about 20/20 hindsight.

I wish that I could say this was the only thing in my life that was on the decline. But it wasn’t. The house was a mess, projects remained incomplete, and I missed some serious deadlines at school (never a good thing while writing a dissertation). To be honest I was having a real “FML” moment and becoming fabulous seem like a pipe dream. I needed a reset button but of course there is no such thing in the real world. So I did the next best thing, I decided to cleanse my life. This is so easy to say but extremely hard to do. ugh!

I started with my job. I hate beginning sick and 8+ hours in a room with 8 infants is a recipe for illness. So I had a decision to make: leave altogether or reduce the number of hours at work. I selected the latter because I’m not ready to leave my babies. But I did bump up the cleaning routine for our class. Hello bleach, lysol spray, and lots of hand washings for babies & teachers. The next thing that received a cleansing was my diet, less junk and more healthy foods & vitamins. Now don’t get me wrong, I haven’t turned into one of those 100% clean eating folks. Right now it is more of a 40/60 split but we all have to start somewhere, right? It has only been two weeks but I feel so much better.

And then I started thinking about all the other things in my life that could use a good cleansing. Like, the house, my wardrobe, that drawer, my thoughts. The list could really go on and on but instead of just talking about it, I figured my time would be better spent coming up with a plan of action. I feel like this is the time to reveal some type of clever name and new series but honestly, I got nothing. But I do invite you to join me for a year (or what remains of this year) of cleansing the body, mind, and whatever surrounding you spend the most of your time. Due to lack of cleverness on my part, I’m going to call this Operation Cleanse. Super original, right? Ha! But seriously, on the 1st & 15th of each month, I will share prompts for cleansing your life and my experiences from the prior weeks. I’ll give you a little hint about the next post, it is about cleansing what cleanses you. I would love it if you joined me. Be sure to follow so you don’t miss out.