Some times call for radical self-care

I’ve been navigating some rocky family terrain over the last couple of months.  While I can’t go into the details, the situation has come to a head. I’ve had enough.

This morning, though, I had a big realization.

I’ve been trying to do business as usual—running my coaching firm, preparing for travel/speaking events and helping my team get ready for the fall—and hoping this issue, which has been a source of tremendous stress and anxiety, would resolve itself. I’ve been treating the problem like a pair of favorite glasses that broke and are being held together by duct tape. Things are working (barely), but they’re far from ideal.

But today after a morning meditation, I heard loud and clear that this challenging scenario needs my full attention. And in order to do this, I’m going to have to take a stand for my needs and initiate some radical self-care.

For now this looks like:

• lightening my load at work (even cancelling events) so I can give this issue my full attention
• doing everything I can to ensure I’m getting adequate sleep and rest so I can make sound decisions and exercise good judgment
• lining up a wonderful massage therapist to come to my home and help me rev down my nervous system each week
• practicing “good is good enough” when it comes to meals (scrambled eggs, or fruit and oatmeal are all perfectly fine for dinner)
• taking mini-sabbaticals from family life and giving myself full permission to claim the time/space I need to “find my center”
• reaching out for regular support from a trusted counselor to help me reach a deeper level of understanding
• creating windows of time to just be, integrate, re-calibrate and recover from some of the recent stressful interactions

Too often we keep pushing ourselves or are not taking the time to really stop, step back and fully see what most needs our attention (read What Is Your Life Trying to Tell You?). And when it comes to self-care–which I define as the art/science of attuning to your needs moment to moment—we give ourselves little morsels of stale breadcrumbs, when what we really need is a big, crusty, fresh-from-the-oven loaf of home-baked bread slathered in butter.

Just acknowledging this felt good. I’ve got my own back and I’m committed to maintaining an allegiance …to myself.

I’D LOVE TO SUPPORT YOU RIGHT NOW:

• Attend one of my self-renewal retreats and receive high-level support, mentoring and explore new ways of being. P.S. My Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Esalen retreat has just 5 spots left and my Oct. 27-29 Kripalu retreat has just 20 spots left (lodging is almost sold out at both venues).
  
• Schedule me to speak in 2018 to your organization, company or team on work-life effectiveness, stress management, mindfulness & resiliency. Learn more.
• Explore the idea of facilitating or joining our Personal Renewal Groups for women (in 10 countries worldwide); becoming a RTA-Certified Facilitator can be a great way to transition to a new career field, find community and learn the art of self-care. Our online training is $100 off through Aug. 31st and includes private coaching with me!

Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance speaker/author and Career Strategists president, Renée Peterson Trudeau. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Spirituality & Health and more. Thousands of women in ten countries are becoming RTA-Certified Facilitators and leading/joining Personal Renewal Groups based on her award-winning self-care curriculum.  She is the author of The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal and Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and 15 year-old son. More on her background here.