What was the best thing you've learned recently?

This recent injury has been a major catalyst for change in my life. I have spent nearly my entire life pushing myself, striving to reach HIGH for the stars and it finally caught up with me. This is for all you "A" types, in hopes to resonate with someone who might need to slow down. <3

Many of us, like myself, spend our time as human DOING instead of human BEING. We live in a FAST paced world, where success and happiness oftentimes are brought to us as an illusion of what both mean. Certainly if we don't have our health, how can we be successful and happy? Part of our human condition is to unlearn and relearn things. I am human and this experience has been a blessing in disguise.

I'm here to stand for SELF CARE, especially when that means building the "muscles" we NEED. For me those muscles are the relaxation ones----

After a month without any quality sleep, I began to feel depressed. My eyes were sunken into my head and burning throughout the day because of exhaustion. All the 25 things on my plate started to fall because I just couldn't function.

Chiropractic care, acupuncture, cupping, every holistic thing i could think of and then finally went and got some stronger medication and still... not better.

Weeks later, I finally got a bit of rest and I will say my gut reaction upon waking is to GO GO GO... but I am not listening to that part. That is the old me. The new me is going to focus on enhancing my own self care by regularly working out my RELAX muscles 😉 Started with a tech detox, 5 days off and beach time. I feel so much better <3

Time is such a wonderful and at times challenging element of life. If you are anything like me and you push yourself - I encourage you to take a moment. Sit back and reflect. To give yourself the same compassion you would to others and see what it is you NEED. Taking inventory is a great way to check in on our self care. and to get real with the person standing in the mirror.

5 Tips for discovering what you NEED for better self-care:

1. Write out a list of 6 pillars of self care:
   Physical, Mental, emotional, spiritual, social and financial - for each area make a list of what you feel you NEED in each area. 
2. Pick one of the pillars and write out as granular as possible what you would need to do in order to fulfill that NEED. 
3. Ask for support - reach out to family, friends, social network and get the support you need to keep you accountable.
4. Check in with yourself often. We are creatures of habit, chances are if we don't check in regularly we probably won't make the changes that we NEED. 
5. Baby steps with grace. Take one day at a time. If you are working on slowing down for better self care - start with something really small like turning your phone off at night or writing down things that help you relax. And when you mess up, forgive yourself and try again 🙂 

Thank you for your support. I hope this post encourages you to take a deep dive into what you NEED instead of being caught up in the wash cycle that we often stay in. XO