BeyondWell KC

Are you a person who does everything for others and puts yourself lowest on the totem pole? 🙋‍♀️

So many of us struggle with this, and ESPECIALLY those in helping professions who sometimes have a hard time taking our own advice. Despite knowing how important self-care is, for many of us, our needs always seem to be last in line to be tended to. Sometimes conversations we have with our clients (and ourselves!) center around processing their WORTHINESS of the effort self-care requires, sometimes conversations center around navigating discussions with significant others to help carve out this important time without all Hell breaking loose at home or leading to guilt (this is a BIG one!), and often conversations center around our clients identifying their needs, defining what meeting these needs and what self-care actually looks like for them, and in many cases SIMPLIFYING how they meet their needs and give themselves TLC.

Today, I had a gap between clients and decided to step out of my office and work at a table in our building's beautiful courtyard. For 30 minutes I answered emails while listening to birds chirp, leaves rustle, and cars whiz by and enjoying the breeze and the warmth of the sun. I was still working, but this simple location change felt energizing in a way that I would not have experienced were I still sitting at my desk. I didn't even mean for it to be, but I noticed for me this felt like self-care.

Despite what we know, the word 'self-care' still tends to evoke images of getting a 90-minute massage on the beach at an all-inclusive resort. In reality, self-care doesn't need to be this complicated or elaborate. Self-care can be simple. It can be quick. It can be a moment here and there.

Comment below: What is a form of self-care for you that might not SEEM like self-care?