Picture this...
Holding conference calls from bed. Attempting to draft large documents on my laptop while lying down.
It was May 2005, and I was on bed rest thanks to pre-term labor contractions. Instead of taking time off to rest, I acted as if I could do my normal job from bed.
All because I felt like I was letting my clients and colleagues down (for having to be on bed rest, of all things).
But then my contractions restarted and I ended up back in the hospital. I was discharged only after I promised NOT to work until Zachary was safely delivered.
That's when I decided to let go of self-care guilt. Because I wasn't doing myself, my unborn son, my colleagues, or my clients any good by not taking good care of myself.
How about you, Friend? Do you allow guilt to...
- persuade you to do more (when you're already overwhelmed),
- cajole you into saying "yes" (when you want need to say "no"), and/or
- brainwash you into minimizing your own needs?
Self-care guilt corrupts your judgment, making you believe that you're not worthy of prioritizing your own wellbeing.
I'm here to tell you that you're deserving of giving precedence to your needs. And absolutely deserve to feel good about your self-care practices.
Which is why this week's Podcast is all about why (and how) to put yourself first.
- The reasons why prioritizing self-care isn’t selfish.
- How NOT putting yourself first can have devastating personal and professional consequences (I cover this in the context of lawyers, but it's applicable to everyone).
- Why self-care isn’t just about taking care of yourself physically.
- How to start simplifying (and prioritizing) self-care without the guilt.
And once you've listened to the podcast, be sure to join the Get Reenergized Self-Care Challenge, a 7-Day Challenge (delivered via email) that's designed to help you transform self-care from a *should-do* (that you often feel guilty about) into a guilt-free priority that you actually enjoy.
[This is the SAME THING as my Simplify Self-Care Challenge (it's just been renamed). But if you previously took the challenge and (like so many of us) have gotten off-track thanks to the pandemic, I recommend that you rejoin.]
XO,
P.P.S. Here's what past participants have said about the Challenge:
