• Fresh Views

    You are the most important person in your life: 16 tips for self-care

    Morning tea with a view of the sea, Santorini, Greece

    Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. — Anne Lamott

    Continuing on in our “Summer Self-Care” series where we’re sharing simple tips and ideas to help focus on strengths in a solution-focused way that you may share with patients/clients, as well as implement in your own life. Today our topic is self-care itself.

    Simply put, self-care is the practice of looking after your own mental and physical health. Taking time for self-care is actually necessary for our well-being. Despite the perception of some, self-care isn’t selfish. Too often we find ourselves running around and doing a hundred different things at once. There seems to be some glory in “multi-tasking”, when in reality it induces stress and makes it hard to just breathe and reflect. 

    Today we share 16 simple ideas of how you can practice self-care, including ways we personally are practicing self-care.

    1. Sit and be still alone with your thoughts for 10-15 minutes. Deb practiced this in the above photo during a recent Greece tour. While her days were filled with activity and fun, taking a pause before the day started provided her with self-care. And the view was a definite plus!
    2. Journal about how you’re feeling. Learn more about our experience doing so here.
    3. Get out in nature. We’ve written about the benefit of being in nature here.  
    4. Listen to your favorite music.
    5. Be active in a way that feels good to you. 
    6. Organize or rearrange your space. Read our thoughts on bringing order to chaos here.
    7. Spend quality time with friends or family that pour into you.
    8. Enjoy a long bath or shower.
    9. Allow yourself to sleep-in. This is a favorite of Tami’s on the weekend. Spending every weekday living “the grind”, she really welcomes this luxury
    10. On the topic of sleep, try sleeping with a weighted blanket. This is another self-care practice of Tami’s. It brings calming, reduces stress and anxiety, and helps promote better sleep.
    11. Let yourself have a good cry (sometimes we just need it). We’ve heard it said that tears are the safety valve to the heart.
    12. Take a break from the news and social media. 
    13. Write down 5 things you love about yourself. Post them where you’ll see them.
    14. If you enjoy scents, light a favorite candle or turn on a diffuser with a favorite essential oil. Lavender, rosemary and chamomile are particularly calming.
    15. Write down 5 things you’re grateful for. We share more gratitude practices here and here.  
    16. Have realistic optimism, meaning you confront the situation you may be in, rather than thinking you’re helpless and powerless and avoid it. We’ve shared more thoughts on this here

    Granted, no amount of self-care can completely mitigate all of the struggles that may arise. And everyone’s self-care needs are different. Yet, implementing more self-care and being compassionate with yourself is a process that will be worth it. As Tami shared her “New Year’s Solution” back in January, “1% effort always beats 0% effort.”

    We have been reflecting over the year, and the progress that we’ve made on our own personal “New Year’s Solutions”. Deb shared an update in our last post here. Wondering about Tami’s progress in embracing  “1% effort always beats 0% effort”?  I’m choosing to continue to embrace and build on this principle that’s worked for me before. Rather than talking myself into what I can’t fit in, I’m focusing on what I CAN do, with the energy and focus I DO have. So a few positives, I HAVE been using my under desk elliptical at work when on long Zoom meetings, especially when fitting fitness in otherwise seems a challenge that day. I’m not perfect by any means, but I’m making progress. I keep 5 pound hand weights by the bed and HAVE been using those at night while watching a favorite show before bed. Again, not perfect every night, but any is better than none!.

    We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

    Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AFreshPOVforYou

    Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

    Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

  • Fresh Views

    What a difference 5 minutes can make!

    We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. – Will Durant

    We prefer to  focus on New Year’s “Solutions” (rather than resolutions) as we mentioned in our last blog. It’s said that nearly 1 in 4 quit their attempts at their New Year’s resolutions within the first week, and a majority quit before the end of January. So out with “resolutions”, and in with “solutions” for us. Check out our last blog to learn a couple of our personal 2023 New Year’s solutions!

    Another personal New Year’s solution for us in 2023 to try to bring focus on the positive in our lives and do more of what’s working for us (principles of a solution-focused approach to life). A tool we’re using is quick daily journaling. As two people who don’t typically write journals, this has been an enlightening endeavor and adventure in the new year! The resource we are currently using is The Five Minute Journal pictured above (we are in no way receiving sponsorship/support). We want to share it with you as we are finding it helpful and thought you and those you see in practice might find it helpful too. 

    The journal incorporates solution-focused principles including:

    • Gratitude
    • Daily affirmations
    • Highlights and learnings of the day (so that one can build upon those)

    We’ll share more on these as tools in future posts – tools  that can help one create the life they want (whether they choose to journal or not). And we’ll share some of our personal learnings and highlights along the way.  

    This journaling experience is a positive practice to begin and end each day. And truly it’s taking us 5 minutes or less. Admittedly, the first few days, Tami found fitting this new routine in a bit challenging, but kept reminding herself 1% effort beats 0% and to just write what she could. (Maybe she couldn’t identify 3 highlights of the day, but she could identify 2, so go with that). A few weeks in, we now find ourselves thinking throughout the day what we want to capture in the journal at day’s end!

    Our discoveries our first couple of weeks in with our 5-minute journal experience:

    • It has brought consistency and accountability.
    • It’s providing a snapshot, if you will, each day of our positive experiences
    • It’s helping us create a better day, particularly in regard to what we have control over
    • We’re finding its a commitment we can stick with

    Do you think this approach can help your clients move forward with their diabetes goals? Let us know if you choose to start implementing The Five Minute Journal approach in  your personal life or in your practice and how it’s helping you stay focused on the positive this year. Stay tuned to future blog posts as we “practice what we preach” and share our insights with you. 

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

    Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou

    Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.

    Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.