What do you need right now to stay sane?

This past weekend I enjoyed a girls’ weekend in the Texas Hill Country.  We allowed each other to show up “warts and all.” We laughed a lot, had soulful conversations, nourishing food (and wine!), cozy time by the fire, sweet meditations, meandering walks in nature and expanses of unscheduled time. I have been taking nature respites with this little clan for several years (we all have kids who are the same age) but on this recent getaway we decided that gathering once or twice a year was not enough. To keep our sanity in this current climate, we need to get away every two to three months! 

Observing the levels of heightened anxiety and stress around me, it’s hard to believe that I wrote the post Is Crazy the New Normal? six years ago?!  But, it got me thinking about how much times have changed AND about giving ourselves what we most need now.

I’ve been teaching and practicing self-care–which I define as the art and science of attuning and responding to your needs and desires moment to moment--for 20 years. It’s had a profound impact on who I am today. Reflecting on everything I’ve learned, two things are very clear to me: first, our self-care needs constantly shift depending on our life stage, our current physical/emotional state and what’s going on in the world around us. Secondly, each of us has very different self-care needs. The challenge is to be able to hear, respond to, honor and stand in allegiance to what you need right now,  regardless of how this might look to others (um, leaving the family every two months for a girls weekend ….yes!).

My challenge to you this week is to reflect on what you need to stay sane during these tumultuous times?  While meditating with friends while on a weekend excursion may not sound like fun to you, I invite you to look at what would truly nourish you on a soul level. Be willing to do something radical (read this post on Radical Self-Care).

Perhaps start by scheduling a personal planning retreat–a day away–from the treadmill of to-do lists that defines many of our lives.  Here are some tips to get you started and if you live in Texas, consider grabbing one of the two spots left at my Saturday, Feb. 29th Restructuring: Visioning & Meditation Retreat.  

Drop me a line and let me know what radical self-care stand you need to take to keep your sanity! “Self-care is not about self-indulgence, it’s about self-preservation.” Audre Lorde, cancer survivor

HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOU? HERE ARE TWO OPPORTUNITIES:

• Schedule me to help your team, organization or employees feel more energized, creative and resilient in 2020! My primary work is speaking to professionals worldwide on how to find balance, release stress & cultivate resiliency through practicing the art/science of self-care. Whether it’s a 50-minute keynote, 90 minute interactive workshop or a half or full-day leadership retreat, this is where I shine.  Learn more here.
• Relax, renew & re-align: Sat., Feb. 29th–Restructuring: A Visioning & Meditation Retreat on the beautiful 500-acre McKinney Roughs Nature Preserve outside of Austin, TX. Open to men/women and only two spots left! This is my last TX retreat for 2020. Learn more.

Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance coach/author/speaker and self-care evangelist Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, Spirituality & Health and more. She and her team have certified more than 400 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups and women’s retreats based on her work. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and 17-year-old son. More on Renee here.