Do you want to spring 🐇 into self-care buuuuutttt . . .

But, well … ya’ know, it’s just not happening? You're not alone.

I can group 20 years of clients into 2 self-care camps, those who want to do self-care and those who are showing up and doing it.

There’s no judgment for which category you fall into right now. I too find myself bouncing between both sides of the coin. But in case you didn’t know why you're in the camp you're in, here’s the thing that changes your wanting to doing: your level of discomfort.

When life is really intense and you’re maxed out, you will likely do self-care: get the treatment, go work out or do the meditation. Last year when remote learning went from an annoying mess to a disastrous, full fledged $#!* show, I hit a breaking point and as a result, got really good about my 5-minute morning Qigong practice. AND the Qigong made a noticeable difference in how I was able to self-regulate and cope throughout the day, I kept at it. (I’ll talk more about this important piece later in the month.)

But when the stress is less severe or it is just an ongoing nuisance, you’ll likely manage stress with coping mechanisms such as procrastination, "I don't have time for self-care", intellectualizing by talking about or analyzing it or even organizing your stressors on 800 post-its or to do lists. Let’s be honest, sometimes coping might even be a cocktail or an edible. Sound familiar?

Next week, I’ll send you two different ways you can move forward from managing your stress and all that self-care "shoulding" into feeling good about the self-care you've done.

Talk again soon,

Aimee

PS - In the meantime, I invite you to consider how much of your energy you're using to "manage your stress" with coping mechanisms versus processing and dissipating it.