There seems to be a myth amongst women in particular, that caring for yourself, by which I mean consistently taking time to attend to your own needs so that you stay energised and feeling good most of the time, is somehow selfish. But let’s just take a moment to examine the implications of this:
•You don’t stop very often, because when you do it makes you feel guilty or you just can’t relax because you’re thinking about all the things you could be doing, or should be doing.
•You’re prioritising everyone else’s needs above your own - you’re demonstrating to others that you are not important!
•You disregard feelings of overwhelm, stress, or exhaustion, and only pay attention when you get physical aches and pains or an illness.
•When you do stop it’s for a relatively short period of time – maybe for a quick cuppa, a phone call with a friend, or a relaxing bath.
Now I’m not saying that these are bad things, they’re actually very good. But usually they’re a quick fix, a sticking plaster, that doesn’t tackle the underlying issue.
So what is the underlying issue AND what’s the solution when you’re feeling exhausted and at the end of your tether? When you’re arguing with the children to get them to bed so you can get back on the computer to do some more work?
The issue is we don’t have a consistent approach to caring for ourselves – we’ve not built supportive structures or habits into our daily or weekly routines to give us long term as well as short term benefits. We don't have good success strategies that we're using on a consistent basis.
So here are my top tips for developing your own CARE plan – your supportive habits to energise yourself and keep yourself feeling good on a regular basis. When these become habitual you’ll rely on your quick fixes less frequently and you’ll be feeling more alive than ever.
•Create some ‘Me’ time every single day – even if you start with only 10 minutes. Switch off your phone, don’t check emails, tell your colleagues or children that you’re not available and don’t do anything you think you ‘should’ do or you think ‘needs’ doing – do something you want to do instead.
•Activate your passion. Get in touch with what makes you feel good – go for a walk, dance, sing, paint, write – rediscover what you love to do just for the pleasure of it. Build this into your weekly or monthly routine. Involve others where you can.
•Really laugh – a great big belly laugh where possible. Even the simple physical act of raising a smile can give a small energy boost as it gets you feeling better now. So what makes you laugh? How and where can you build this into your routine?
•End each day with thankfulness. Be grateful – write down 5 - 10 things you’re grateful for. These can be physical or non-physical things, big things or small, it really doesn’t matter, because what matters most is that you feel good when you think of them.
One final tip –combine these where possible for more intensive care e.g. dance is my passion, I’m always laughing at dance class, and dance, music and journaling provides ‘me’ time and ‘thankfulness’ time!
So, all you women entrepreneurs out there - make sure you develop your own CARE plan and let me know how it’s going...... I’d love to hear from you.
After experiencing unhappiness in her work and then a decline in her business results that affected how she felt about herself, her business and her life, Julie developed her breakthrough DANCE system to help business women reconnect with themselves to discover their own true path to success rather than simply following or modelling others. For free success information and details of her book Stepping into Success ...The 7 Essential Moves to Bring Your Business to Life visit www.juliejohnsoncoaching.com