There’s a line from the book “Love is a Mixtape” by Rob Sheffield where he states that “The work of love will leave you bloody and it will leave you sad”. I was thinking about that as I cleaned out my cats’ litter boxes today, which seems to be such a mundane job for a quote so profound.

It originally comes from a story where the author is trying to clip his father’s toenails in the later stages of his life. Because of that context, I always thought about it in the context of helping others especially my own father when he was living with dementia.

It’s only today that I thought about it in the context of myself. I have to go to the doctor today to find out about my calcium score from my cardiologist. I’m hoping for a good score and that I can worry less about my heart health. But it might be worse and I’m going to have to change aspects of my life even further.

But I’ll know. It’ll make me sad if it’s bad but I’ll know then and I can do what needs to be done. When you get up and do the daily work of living it can be hard. But it’s a form of love that you show yourself. When you eat something healthy, clean yourself or your living area.

Self care isn’t just a spa weekend. It’s the daily maintenance to show you that you love you.