Self Care is the Best Care!
Self Care is the Best Care!
Hope you had a great 4th of July! I used this weekend to work and of course enjoy the wonderful freedoms we have by watching the latest season of Stranger Things! Did you watch it? If so, that was crazy, right? I love that show so much! Some of you may or may not know that I recently got laid off from my 9-5, which I think might be the best thing that ever happened to me. While I loved my job, it was also killing me emotionally, mentally, and even physically believe it or not. My stress level was through the roof, and without trying to give away all the details, the job itself wasn't what I signed up for towards the end.
Why I Gave Away My Power
I feel like every relationship (boss to employee, husband and wife, friend to friend) should have an equal balance of power. While a boss to employee relationship may have a slight difference in power, I feel like a certain amount of respect should be there. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful bosses in a lot of my jobs (notice I said a lot, not all), I know in some of my jobs the respect has not always been there among superiors in my previous positions. I gave away some of my power so I could be respected in these environments. I thought it was what I had to do to survive, but what happened was that they just took advantage of the fact that I would do whatever for them whenever.
What I Learned From That Experience
I can't make people like me, but I can get them to respect me without changing what I am or who I am. I now know that I am a person that likes to have boundaries in every single one of my relationships. Especially when it comes to workplace relationships with your bosses. However, it also taught me that I really need to start taking care of myself a lot more. While I am looking for a stable 9-5 job that fits within my parameters of what I like to do with my business, I am trying to find something that is not so stressful that I end up finding strands and strands of hair in my brush and in the shower. Introspection has been very helpful in this whole experience. What do I want out of my life? What is my endgame here? What am I NOT looking for in my next job? Who do I like working with and how can I make that happen in my next job? These are all questions I have been really asking myself in my job search.
What About Self-Care?
All of this previous toxicity from my life caused a lot of anxiety and stress, which caused a lot of my self-care work to go by the wayside. Self-care is something I really need to do more often, and if you follow me on social media (check out the links below to follow me!) You will know that I do talk about how my self-care isn't where it should be as an entrepreneur. I think every single entrepreneur out there should put self-care in the forefront.
Story Time!
Last night, I almost missed a girls night in with my girlfriends because I was working so hard on my laptop. I wasn't checking my phone, I was in the zone on LinkedIn. It wasn't until I got off my laptop, cleaned my kitchen and lighting my manifestation candles that I saw the text and picked up a call from my friend asking where I was. I was mortified. How could I forget about this? We were talking about it for at least two weeks. Luckily the host's house was ten minutes away from my place, so I just put on some clothes and left. I had an amazing time; there were drinks, food, and secret kisses cookies. A lot of girl talk reminiscent of Sex and The City. I would've missed it, had my friend not reminded me.
This is a huge wake-up call that I am not getting the self-care that I need in my life. I am not sitting down writing in a journal, walking around, or taking bubble baths where I could be coming up with my amazing ideas. If I had more of this in my life, I'd be a little bit more balanced!
Mindset Work is a Must!
There's another post I've written about how achieving perfectionism is not the way to go in your business. Accepting that you will make mistakes is a HUGE part of this whole process. Money mindset work is a huge part of this process as well. Knowing my worth, knowing what I can offer, and knowing what I can do for people was something I really had to work through. Self-care is also a must and taking some time to just sit around and writing down my ideas would be very beneficial.
What About You?
What's your biggest form of self-care? Do you meditate? Do you write down ideas without distractions? Do you just sit down and focus on your breath? Let me know in the comments below or share your thoughts with me on social media. I am also going to start doing Facebook Lives about this very topic soon, so keep on the lookout for that!