This is the final installment of The Self-Care Series. Our goal for this year-long series was to help sustain you in your work and life by highlighting natural, holistic, healthy habits, and science-backed techniques for maintaining habits long-term. Our last article in the series is a recap of all the tips and ideas we’ve shared with you this year.
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash
Successful mediators are adept at maintaining focus and energy in high-pressure situations and have the ability to recover from stress, challenges, and setbacks. In other words, mediators need to be resilient. One of the best strategies for building and maintaining your resilience is to establish healthy self-care habits that address your physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being.
Simple habit changes can make a big impact on the energy and passion you feel for your work. But, long-term habit change can be challenging to maintain. Relying on motivation and willpower is the wrong strategy. Find out how to be successful with your habits – even when you have LOW motivation to do so!
A busy workday often includes a quick lunch eaten on the go and then a bigger, heavier evening meal after the day is done. This is a norm in our culture, but it’s hard on the body and mind! Experimenting with the habit of eating an Earlier, Lighter Dinner can go a long way toward improving your capacity to do your work and enjoy your life.
How you put yourself to bed and what time you turn off the lights makes a huge impact on your mood, energy, health, and longevity. Yet, our culture stigmatizes sleep, glorifying those who can push through an all-nighter and dismissing those who prioritize sleep as lazy or unmotivated. If you skimp on sleep, stay up late, have a hard time falling or staying asleep, and tend to wake up groggy and sluggish, create the habit of Early to Bed.
A great day today starts … yesterday. How you spend your evenings has everything to do with how you feel when you wake up in the morning. That’s why the habits of eating dinner early and light and going to bed early are so important. They set you up to sleep well and wake up energized. Now you can use your early morning energy to set your intention and practice other healthy habits that keep you feeling great all day long.
Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from life’s difficulties. Resilience enables you to have a clear mind and calm response, even to difficult, stressful, or tragic events. With resilience, you can do work that is fun and meaningful, and makes a contribution to the world.
One very simple habit that will increase your resilience is the practice of sitting in silence.
One of the most important strategies for successfully changing your habits is to enlist the support of others. You can enlist the support of co-workers, friends, coaches, and teachers who will help you reach your goals by providing accountability and encouragement.
Holiday time offers an extra-rich load to our senses of taste, touch, scent, sight, and sound. It can take us to the edge of overstimulation (and beyond). Overdoing it can lead to all kinds of trouble, from the expected fatigue and seemingly inevitable sinus infection, to other kinds of dis-ease in your mind and spirit. Ease holiday stress by trying a practices that nourish and care for your precious five senses.
Relationship challenges are often intensified during the holidays. Whether the friction sparks a big blow up or it smolders under the surface, relationship stress can put a damper on the season and take a toll on your well-being. I sat down with Lael Petersen, Life Coach and Licensed Clinical Social Worker to get some tips on how to navigate relationship challenges.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
The Self-Care Series has been great fun to write, and I hope you’ve found some helpful tips and ideas for making simple, small changes to your daily routines. With a new year just around the corner, now is a great time to reflect on what’s working well in your life (and keep doing it!) and to notice aspects of your life and well-being that are not what you would like them to be.
If you’re ready to make some changes in your habits, go back to our first installment of The Self-Care Series, and use it as a guide to making a Self-Care Resolution for the coming year. All the best to you in 2020 and beyond!
The Self-Care Series is authored by Kirstin Pinit. Kirstin teaches the art of self-care through creative, engaging, and practical habit-change programs. She is a certified coach and yoga teacher and consults with cities, communities, companies, and groups on behavior-change programs and strategies. Learn more about her work at www.kirstinpinit.com.