The importance of self-care is showing up all around me these days. You too?

Reminders to take care of myself left and right. Reminders from others sharing their need to care for themselves, too. Tis’ the season for all of us, I guess? Where in your life are you doing a ton?

As a coach, my clients get to pour their hearts out to me daily – I welcome this with OPEN arms. I encourage them to do so. I love these girls. They’re grateful, smart, beautiful… and seeing each of them gain more freedom in their lives… Well, nothing makes me happy quite like that does. 

I love serving them, hearing their stories, and getting to work with them. It’s only fair to them that I show up as the most available version of myself, each day, each call.

To show up as the most open and ready-to-listen version of myself for them… Guess who first needs to take care of herself?

You got that right.

I do.

What does it look like to care for myself so that I can continue pouring into others?

Self-care, for me, is an awareness of what’s going on around me, knowing how I feeling, and being aware of what I can do to support myself through each day. This means knowing myself well. Having boundaries that allow me to know exactly where I can say ‘YES’ and where to say ‘NO.’

Self-care sometimes looks like pulling up my schedule, glancing it over, and taking away things that don’t feel good – areas where I’ve maybe overextended myself. It looks like making sure I have the space I need for quiet moments. Making sure there’s enough space for things that will bring me joy.

It means asking myself: How is it that I want feel as I go through my days/week? What needs to be in place in order for me to feel this way?

The better I care for myself, the more I’m able to patiently care for others. The better you care for yourself, the better you’re able to care for others.

When my self-care is lacking, I am less patient, less available, and more irritable. Relate?

In these moments, I usually need alone time. I need to tuck away into my bedroom. I need a walk. Or maybe a date night with my husband. Maybe I need to wake up early one morning before anyone else, and have some peace & quiet.

Finding out what I need is all about being aware and staying curious. The step that follows is always taking action.

What do you do for self care? Are you better able to show up for others when you’ve taken care of yourself first? Would love to hear in the comments of this post! 

P.S. I wrote another post about self care over on The Ladies Coach blog. You can read that here if you’d like to read more on my perspective of self-care!