Self-Care Saturday: The One Thing You Need

Self-care is giving you the grace to take care of you. Give yourself the grace to make space and time to meet your needs or to allow others to help meet your needs. This week we practice one self-care experiment because one thing is better is nothing.

Today You Will

Look at your life. What is the one thing you want to do today? What is the one thing you need to do today? Trust your intuition, chances are you know what your one thing needs to be. Maybe it is something easy like getting your hair cut or something hard like making that tough phone call. What is the one action step you need to make today take care of yourself? Write it down, post it somewhere and then do it. "Today I will________." Give yourself the grace to allow one action to be enough. 

Click here for your free "Today I will" printable.

If your one thing is finding a Nashville therapist, feel free to call Jessica at (615) 979-4167 for a free 15-minute phone consultation. I’m happy to hear about what is happening and help direct you the right person for you.

Self-Care Saturday: Making Time for Deep Connections

Making time for self-care involves cultivating a life of deep connections. These meaningful relationships help us navigate the storms of life, and they do not happen overnight. We need to make time and space for these deep connections to happen, even though we may have to take a risk and become vulnerable. Here are two ideas about how to practice self-care, but also to make time for deep connections.

Schedule Your Next Vacation

I love to travel. Traveling gives me space where I can breathe deeply and gain perspective on what matters most. One of my favorite ways to travel is with friends and family. When we head out on vacation together we are given a unique opportunity to reconnect and deepen our relationship. Currently, I am on vacation with my husband celebrating our anniversary. This annual beach trip is a great time for us to process the previous year and dream of what we want the next year to look like. We love the space we have on this trip to have unique conversations about out life together. I would recommend you trying the same on your next trip with loved ones. If you are looking for some help on what conversations to have with your partner or your children, then look no further. There’s an app for that.

Practice Asking for Help & Receiving Help

One surprising form of self-care is to ask for help and then receive help. This is hard for many of us. Asking for something feels risky. Saying “I cannot do it all by myself” makes us become vulnerable. We don't want to seem needy. We don’t want our friend to disappoint by not helping out. However, one of the best ways we can cultivate deeper connections is to open ourselves to our friends and ask for help. When you do you lower the walls between you and them and surprising, meaningful things can happen. Your relationship has the potential to grow and stretch in new ways. So go ahead and ask. I’m guessing they already knew you needed help in the first place!

If reaching out and asking a professional in Nashville for counseling is what is next for you, then call for a free 15-minute phone consultation with Jessica. 

Self-Care Saturday: Time In and Time Off

Time is precious. Time is a gift. Time goes fast. Every day we choose how to spend our time. Maybe you choose to wake up early to watch the sunrise. Or maybe you are like me and choose to hit snooze until the alarm breaks. We all make choices with our time, so what choices are you making? Each week the self-care experiments offered are intended to help you make better choices with your time. Here are two more for you to consider this week. 

Take Time Off

People joke about taking a “mental health” day off from work. The level of workplace stress continues to rise for a majority of Americans. Employees report that stress is impacting them both inside and outside of the office due to issues like relationship struggles and increased workload. 

One recent internal review of a large corporation reported that employees who use more vacation days receive more positive performance reviews. This report is another reminder that self-care can strengthen your abilities at work. 

When we take time off we are creating healthy boundaries and a better work/life balance. This balancing act is not easy, though. Taking time for ourselves only seems to ignite those loud, negative voices many of us hear. “If I am not there it won’t get done right?” “What if they realize they can do it better without me?” When we never take a break from work then we can never do our best work. 

So when is your next day off? How might an extra few hours away from work improve your work? Grab a calendar and write it down (in pen!) so you will get some time off soon. Enjoy!

Schedule Time with Marble Jar Friends 

In Daring Greatly,  Brené Brown shares a story about her daughter, Ellen. In Ellen’s third grade classroom, the teacher has a marble jar. When the class makes good choices, then the teacher adds a marble to the jar. When the class makes inappropriate choices, then the teacher removes a marble. Once the “good decision” jar is full the class would celebrate (insert ice cream here). 

That same year Ellen experienced a hurtful experience with her friends. So her mom ended up trying to explain relationships to her daughter. Brené says, “I told Ellen to think about her friendship as marble jars. Whenever someone supports you, or is kind to you, or sticks up for you, or honors what you share with them as private, you put marbles in the jar.When people are mean, or disrespectful, or share your secrets, marbles come out.” She continues, “Trust is built one marble at a time.” 

Each of us can think of friends who we trust and enjoy being around. Friends who desire for you to grow towards the healthiest version of yourself are marble jar friends. Finding time for these life-giving friendships help to create a positive relational balance in your life.  When you choose to spend time with these people, then you are making a healthy self-care decision. So pick up the phone and give that marble jar friend a call (insert ice cream here)!

If you are still overwhelmed with work stress or frustrated with non-marble jar friends, feel free to call me at (615) 979-4167 for a free 15-minute phone consultation. If you are looking for more self-care ideas, then be sure to check out previous recommendations or check back next week for other ways make different choices with your time.