Self Care

SUMMARY

Putting yourself first for a change is vital if you are going to sustain your performance and reduce your stress.

There is so much power in that final statement and it is the framework for the whole concept of self-care. Why? Because you cannot help anyone if you are not in a fit state yourself. It all starts with you! Self-care is anything you do deliberately in order to take care of your mental, emotional, and physical health. Although it's a simple concept in theory, I pretty sure it's something you very often overlook. I know I did.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Putting yourself first for a change is vital if you are going to sustain your performance and reduce your stress.

Hi this is Grant Herbert, speaker and sustainable performance trainer and coach, and I want to continue our conversation around stress this week by unpacking the topic of SELF CARE.

You’ve probably heard this before during the safety briefing before take off. “If the cabin pressure drops, masks like these will drop down from the overhead locker above. Immediately pull down on the mask to start the flow of oxygen. Fit the mask over you nose and mouth and breath normally. Secure the mask by pulling on the two ends of this strap. Oxygen will still flow, even if the bag doesn’t inflate”

Now the first thing you are probably thinking right now is "this guy flies a lot”, and I do, but what’s really important here is what they say next…

“Fit your mask first before assisting other guests”.

There is so much power in that final statement and it is the framework for the whole concept of self-care. Why? Because you cannot help anyone if you are not in a fit state yourself. It all starts with you!

Life is a delicate balance between helping others with self taken care of.

It’s like all you mums out there. You’re making dinner and there isn’t enough for everyone so all of a sudden you’re not hungry. You make sure your family eats, and you go without for them, because you love them and you see it as your role to nuture and look after them. But here’s the problem with that. Your motive for doing this is pure and admirable but the action itself is very counter-intuitive. You see if mum doesn’t eat and mum falls off the perch, no one eats.

Self-care is anything you do deliberately in order to take care of your mental, emotional, and physical health. Although it's a simple concept in theory, I pretty sure it's something you very often overlook. I know I did.

So let’s have a look at a few tips you can use to exercise a little more self care:

• Prioritise and block out some ‘me time’ every week
• Eat well, sleep well and move well everyday
• Say NO to others to say YES to your self-care
• Get into nature and switch off from the pressures of work
• Turn off your phone and give yourself permission to disconnect and read a real book
• Simplify your schedule and do what you can to de-clutter
• Hang out with someone who you love. If they're too far away, give them a phone call
• Put on your favourite dance music, and shake your body
• Stop for 10 minutes and jot down your thoughts in a journal
• Learn something new that is just for you and not your work
• Be OK with just being still without achieving anything

These are just some of the things that work for me. The first thing you need to do before starting out this process of self-care is get to a position where you feel worthy of giving yourself this priority attention. Work on your identity and stop caring about what others think of you so much.

Once you start taking better care of yourself physically, emotionally and mentally, you will be in a much better position to handle what goes on in your day to day world. This will reduce your stress levels and help you manage your responses in a healthier way.

Well that’s it from me for another week. Let’s continue the conversation next week when we talk about physical stress. You are worthy of a less stressful life…you just need to believe that and take the action required. See you next week.