I guess your holidays were much calmer than the ones I had growing up!

You had to know where you could or couldn’t sit (the kid table or the grown-up table).

When crazy cousin Cheryl starts dancing with music, you needed to decide if you gotta get out of there quick or if you put up with it because you feel like you can’t leave?

How do you decide your boundaries?

Do you wonder why others can see our situation so much clearer than we see it? It’s all about honesty and vulnerability. 

You might be wondering how you can be more honest and vulnerable with someone else than you are with yourself...it’s easier than you think!!!

It works like this…

When you stuff your feelings, it’s like waiting for an explosion until you finally reach the amount you can stuff. I visualize it as an older suitcase that you put in all things you had. Then you get more stuff to shove it...it barely closes then but before you know it you are opening it to shove something else in and finally it won’t shut. So you put the suitcase on the floor, hop up and down on it trying to get the clasp to reach and finally….

We always think about things we have to do at home to prepare for the holidays, but what about the things at work? We know there are always things that we’ve put off until we are preparing to go on vacation! and then they needed to be done yesterday. So what happens? We make a list.

AH…lists! This is the story of a love-hate relationship with productivity.

What is self-care anyway? Sounds woo woo.

I don’t think I ever heard that term until I was in my mid-20s. How could that be? Until it hit me, we as women are constantly putting ourselves LAST.

To this day, I still don’t know when my mom really takes a break and does something totally and completely for herself. Not sure I know for the other older women around me either.

But after everything I’ve learned since becoming a Certified Health Coach (CHC), I now know that,

SELF CARE IS ESSENTIAL.

Speaking of essential, it’s 2020 and everything is essential.

We’ve been in a global pandemic during an election year with major civil unrest around the world and a pretty abnormal school year for most of us so…I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle some days. It’s been SEVEN LONG months of adjusting at my house. How about at yours? For most of us, any one of the things above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the answer of “what’s been going on?” How are you REALLY doing?

Women tend to put others and their happiness ahead of their own. This has been taught to us as children by our parents, who were taught that by their parents, and their parents’ parents. Just because that is how it has been done in the past does not mean we have to perpetuate the cycle of self-abuse.

So how do we break the cycle and start loving ourselves in the way that we will reap the benefits?

What is self-judgment? This is when you have thoughts about yourself or your actions that cause emotions that negatively affect you. Typically you will start feeling anxious, depressed, or even get angry at yourself for thinking or doing something. Many times negative self-talk accompanies these thoughts as they are like two peas in a pod.

We have SOOOO many distractions today and so many commitments that we take on as we feel obligated to in order to achieve success. Living this way creates a constant state of excitement that doesn’t allow for downtime without guilt. Staying busy all the time creates mental burnout.