In this episode, Clare returns, and we talk about all things self care – what it is, what it isn’t, why it’s important, and why it is not enough. Self care is one of those loaded terms that many of us don’t fully understand. I know it took me a long time to figure out what self care means to me, and how to do it in the midst of the chaos of life. And right now, during the holidays, and through the Covid-19 pandemic, and those two things combined – self care has become a bit more complicated.
We talk about:
- Not being taught how to self care
- Feeling like as new parents our needs are at the bottom of the wrong
- The guilty feelings that can arise from taking time for ourselves
- How selfcare is misrepresented in our culture and society (it’s not just bubble baths and pedicures)
- The support we actually need to do self care well – it can’t be done in a bubble
- What self care actually means
- How we both learned what self care is
- Boundaries and saying no as self care
- Honouring our own needs as self care
- Pulling it back to basics
- Giving ourselves the same love and care that we give our families
- Band-aid self care vs. building a life that is sustainable
- What the pandemic has taught us about self-care
- Reminding yourself of your own importance
- Just doing the next right thing
- Needing more than just self care to be fully well – needing community care and systems care as well
- How it really does take a village
- Self care as a ‘harm reduction’ strategy during hard times
- The pressures that come up around the holidays
- What Clare and I are doing for self care right now
