Take Care of Yourself this Season of Crafting

Remember to take time to take care of yourself…so your hands don’t cramp up and fall off this Holiday Season.

Christmas (Or Hanukkah or whatever ever your reason to celebrate) is here! It’s officially the season of crafting. We’re in the midst of all the festive glory…and pain in our neck, shoulders, hands, and backs. Be honest with me for a minute. How often do you experience soreness or pain while crafting for the holidays?

I do – quite a bit actually. In fact, I feel it more so now that I am seven months pregnant. Getting ready to take care of a little one has gotten me to start thinking more about how I take care of myself -or not. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

Being a small business owner, crafter, and now pregnant mother is taking a toll. But there are ways to help mitigate this soreness.

Take Care of Yourself in this Season of Crafting

Stretching

If you’re like me, you gather round all of your supplies, hunker down and craft. Make sure to take some time every now and then to get up, move around and stretch. If you’re sitting on the floor your probably hunching your back. Heart openers are a great way to counter the hunch. Stretching your hands, fingers, neck and shoulders is vital. But if you’re spending a lot of time in one place, stretching your legs can be a good idea too.

Moist Heat

There are two ways I go about this step. My first and favorite is to sit in my shower. Yup you read that right. I crank up the heat, maybe use a few drops of an essential oil and spend some time relaxing and stretching in the shower. The moisture and heat helps to sooth and relax tired and sore hands, shoulders, etc. Try it. I think you’ll find it quite nice.

The other way I go about this one, is an old fashioned hot water bottle. My mother in law gave me a nice one from Aldi that I use all of the time. You boil some water on the stove and then fill the hot water bottle with it. It gets hotter than an electric heating pad and can be used just about anywhere.

Deep Blue

My new pregnancy addiction! I’ve recently started exploring essential oils more and have signed up for DoTerra. Part of my welcome package included Deep Blue – a soothing all natural pain relief cream that smells and feels divine.

Deep Blue smells minty but not over the top minty. It has a tingly or cooling sensation when you apply it, which goes nicely with the natural pain relieving properties of the proprietary oil blend. You can get this as an oil and a roll on too I believe. If you haven’t tried DoTerra products, you can grab them here.