Self-care

A good amount of shayla's day is spent in taking care of herself, improving herself and morphing into what Master knows is there, but still partially hidden. Since before she came to her Master, shayla has been working to get back into shape. Then she came to Houston and realized that she'd not even come close to what she's capable of.

One of the first things that Master did was regulate her diet and exercise. There's little limit to how much she eats, but what she eats is a different matter entirely. Master's diet is rather simple, and he doesn't keep processed food in the house. Which is a big help, as shayla has her weak moments. He encourages high-protein foods and vegetables. And while he's not limited dairy foods, shayla finds herself restraining herself from having very much. She avoids sweets regardless of how tempted she is, unless they come directly from his hand.

Exercise is another matter. Shayla walks no less than an hour a day with weights. Many people shayla comes across in her job compliment her on her hard work in walking, having seen her 'just pumping away' on her walks. She tells them that they're seeing the easy part, the hard part's when she gets home. There's a building near where we live that is three stories, and it's got stairs to the 3rd floor. Shayla's job is walk all three flights a certain number of times when she's done with her walks, with weights twice as heavy as the ones she uses on her walks. Then it's back into the house for everything else.

The first time Master put her through the exercises she does daily, it was all she could do to keep up. Looking back, shayla's glad that he put her through it. It just takes time to do them. There's the deep knee bends, the flutter-kicks, the crunches, pushups, & others that she doesn't even have names for. Somewhere around crunch #163, or push-up # 84, she feels like she'll be exercising all day, but she keeps on going. Predictably enough, by the end of them all she's tired, sore, sweaty, but knowing that she's done her best with them, done them as he's wanted. The endorphins that kick in long before she finishes help, too. And she's learned that nothing helps a woman lose her belly quite like 200 or so crunches/day. Gotta love it.

Her appearance is something else that she has paid more attention to in the past months than she ever has. She still takes care to look good when she's out or working, but she puts the same amount of care, if not a bit more, into her appearance when she's home. Shayla tries to ensure that her makeup and hair are done well, that she's wearing something that flatters her (not that she wears much at home, Master prefers her in collar, bells, and either t-shirt or nightie, nothing else). At first it seemed a little odd to shayla to be 'dolled up' at home, but now she finds that she enjoys it. And there's definitely something to be said for the times that she's knelt, head to the floor, when Master's entered then told her to straighten, and seeing the look in his face and eyes when he takes a good look at what his girl.

Along with all this is the regular tanning. Shayla's got fair, hard to tan skin. Master's mentioned more than once how intense the sun gets in this area, more so than where shayla had lived before she came down. So he's having her go in part to protect her from what he knows (but she doesn't) is coming. Though he much prefers shayla tanned than shayla lily-white. Actually, so does she (but Master already knows that).

It's a lot, the prescribed diet, the exercise, the tanning. But it's certainly been worth it. Master's mentioned before about this very thing...

"Marcus : And to take a girl, crush all the doubts she has, burn away the Earth girl, refine her to become a kajira, would be to create a living work of art."

That's just what's happening.

shayla