Today, all of my PT clients today had 3 things in common:
They are all Executive Women; women in busy and demanding jobs.
They are all Mums.
They all expressed a need and desire for greater Self-Care!
Before each of their sessions today, I asked them:
“What is the purpose of this session for you today?”
ALL OF THEM said (amongst a few other things); that it was an opportunity to have some time for themselves and to focus on their wellbeing.
This afternoon, as I reflected on their shared response, I decided to follow up with them all and sent them a message asking them:
“Having taken that time out for some self-care today, what was the impact (for you/your day)?”
Here's what they said:
Client 1; “It’s like a re-set button. I can think more clearly, feel overall improved wellbeing and generally a positive start to the day.”
Client 2; ‘I felt more energized.”
Client 3; “It always so nice to have an hour where I didn’t think about all the crap that goes on in my head all the time; about the children, the work stuff, the home admin. Just having that break from all that is such a treat.”
Client 4; “I always find that I just feel a bit clearer headed after; like I’m not so overwhelmed. It just seems to help me balance life out a bit. It’s also a really nice way to break up the day; like playtime at school!”.
Resonate much?
So often we put self-care down the bottom of “the list” but, actually, (as shown in this example above), if you stuck it up to the top, all the rest would feel more manageable.
It’s why I’m passionate about making sure these super amazing women take some time out for themselves.
So here are my top 3 tips:
1) Decide it! Decide to make your wellbeing a priority and make it your mission to look at your diary and work out where you can fit some consistent self-care time in (even if it means getting up half an hour earlier).
2) Put your 'Self Care' time into your WORK diary. Yes! Treat it like you would any other important meeting; except this one is a meeting with the most important person of all….yourself! Get the time BLOCKED!
3) Remember the Oxygen Mask analogy; put YOUR OWN oxygen mask on first before attending to anyone else. The theory, of course, is that you’re no use to anyone if you can’t breathe yourself!