The importance of self-nurture for anxiety, stress, and depletion
We hustle to get these things done, every day, 7 days a week, only to crash into burnout, depletion, stress, and anxiety. Or perhaps our body pulls the emergency brakes to force us to stop (since we aren’t voluntarily stopping and resting) by throwing out our back, giving us the flu, flaring up pain, and aggravating other physical or mental symptoms of an imbalanced lifestyle. We might rest, or be forced to rest, for a day or two, then we’d get up and try to make up for lost time, which would start the entire cycle of hustle + crash all over again.
With the demands of our modern world, we have lost any sort of self-agency over our own body and life. We are allowing others to steer our chariot rather than us taking the reins.
It is no wonder many of us live in a perpetual weight of anxiety and depletion, barely surviving rather than thriving.
This is why I focus my work on establishing self-nurture rituals with my clients. In the paragraphs below, I’m sharing more about what self-nurture is, and how you can get started on your own self-nurture journey to reclaim a life with more ease and vitality.
Be travel-ready this summer without feeling depleted and crashing into pain flares
As exciting and novel as travel is, you are ultimately seeing new things, visiting new places, and being around new people. It can be a lot of stimulation for the body and nervous system.
Here are some suggestions I personally use when I travel to help keep my systems regulated, and not overwhelmed or overly exhausted.
How to create a self-care ritual that you will actually stick to
If you, like most women, wear multiple hats, give away your time, and try to do it all with absolute perfection, you might find that your wellbeing takes the very back seat after everyone else’s.
Perhaps, you have tried to do that “self-care” thing that seems so popular nowadays. You created a plan, bought that journal, splurged on the bath oil, and tried meditating with the expensive meditation cushion you bought…for two days…before an unexpected swerve uprooted you yet again from your Instagram-worthy self-care plan.
In this article, I break it down for you step-by-step to create your very own fail-proof self-care plan.
For the stressed and depleted women who do too much
You are tired.
So, so tired.
But you don't know if you can stop.
You are afraid to stop.
You are afraid that, if you stop, the threads of your world,
And the worlds around you,
The threads you work so hard to keep together,
Will come apart very quickly.
You bear the compression,
Of the world inside of you,
Of the world around you,
And of the worlds before you.
The compression,
Bottled and pushed down inside,
Is leaking out.
Daily Pain Care Plan: Taking breaks to manage pain and energy
For one reason or another, it is usually exceptionally hard for us to take breaks. We often think: Well, let me just finish this one more thing, then I will take a break. Or: There is just so much to do -- I can’t afford to take breaks!
However, taking frequent breaks throughout the day will not only help you reduce chances of flare-ups and fatigue, it can also give your system an entire reset or reboot so that the tasks you need to accomplish are achieved with more ease, more effectiveness, and less stress.
You may have even noticed this in yourself. On days you’ve had little rest at night or during the day, you may feel more stressed out, overwhelmed, and anxious, all of which can result in fatigue and pain flares. By not allowing yourself to rest, you are ultimately dishonoring your own needs and your body.
We all need to rest. All in all, rest, even in 5 or 10 minute increments, can be incredibly constructive for yourself, your day, and for those around you.