Self-Care 102: Some Easy Ways To Help You Curb The Crazy

All too often, it’s a challenge for me to slow down, stop working, unplug and recharge my soul by having FUN! Last weekend, I took a little trip to the Smokey Mountains, rode the coasters at Dollywood and celebrated my 4 nominations at the Josie Independent Music Awards.

In my last letter, I wrote about Self-Care 101: understanding WHAT self care is, WHY it’s important and HOW to begin to incorporate it into our lives. This time I’m gonna touch upon why has it become SUCH a big old buzz word nowadays? What are some easy ways we can cultivate it into our lives?


BUZZWORD: a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context.

5 years ago we weren’t using the lingo Self Care. Perhaps some therapists did, but it probably didn’t have the same level of use or conventionality that we see today.

WHY has this changed?

Well, I don’t pretend to have all the answers (always open to your insights!) but I do feel that nowadays it’s come more into play because most of us are becoming increasingly overwhelmed.

In our modern world, the word busy is becoming synonymous with success. Most people are so stressed out with life, work, families, responsibilities, etc. that burn out is phenomenon like never before. When we are constantly running and on the go it creates a disconnect with our core SELF.

Thereby it follows that starting to figure our how to care for our self is a key step in learning to reconnect

When we add on the abundance of technology that’s constantly ringing and beeping ….

Kinda makes it hard to hear your soul?

The original intent of technology was to make things easier for us. However, I feel that in a lot of ways it’s given us more to do - more to manage - more to keep track of and oftentimes it can make our heads spin. We constantly need more technology to keep up with and manage the technology we have. AND things like email and social media and texting constantly keep us responding to the world around us, as opposed to the world within us.

We now live in a society where most of us are always carrying little devices (cell phones) that are continually blinking & buzzing with texts, emails, social media updates, calendar to dos and alerts. It can be both exhilarating and exhausting to keep up wth it all and to keep track of it all.

Also, there’s a whole school of research that shows how Social Media interaction can actually result in depression, insecurity, anxiety and low self-esteem. I’m not saying that now we all need to go out and delete our accounts. BUT I am saying that our modern and extensive use of social media is another reason why the idea of self care and learning to unplug has become so pronounced in recent times.

And when we’re constantly focused on the posts of others and their amazing lives,

(there are terms now coined as Lifestyle envy or Relative deprivation) it can tear down our relation to our essential SELF and our positive feelings of success.

My theory is that these are the reasons why Self Care has become a buzzword like never before. We are losing ourselves and our souls in both busy-ness and the world wide web.

Please don’t think I'm a stick in the mud, I love technology but the key to self care is BALANCE.

So here are some easy ways to help you curb the crazy!

1. Turn off your phone. It’s imperative to allow ourselves to unplug. Most days I don’t even have my ringer on! Right now it’s sitting next to me on the desk, turned face down so I can’t see the incoming messages. When we are constantly bombarded by the noise around us, it’s impossible to hear the call of our own precious hearts

2. Allow yourself time To have fun! To do nothing! or To take a nap in the middle of the day!

3. Make a list of your favorite things that help you to relax. For me it’s yoga, bubble baths, pedicures, reading, massages. I will wholeheartedly admit, I’m not the best at shutting things down and creating ‘me’ time. But I will say that I’m working on it. And every time I allow myself to step into that space, I’m super grateful that I did.

4. Notice the things (and sometimes it is people) that give you stress. Ask yourself what you can do to minimize these activities or delete them from your to-dos. Focus on what brings you joy and stop prioritizing the things that don’t.

5. Make time to take care of your temple which includes healthy meals, hydrating, sleep and exercise. I incorporated some fun with this one a few weeks ago and had a little Michael Jackson dance party, just me, in my living room….. and yes I just admitted that ….“mamasay mamasa mama kusa”

I think these 5 things are a good start to gettin' your self care on :)

Let me know how your dance party goes or drop a line back with some tips on some of your favorite self care solutions!

Sending you Big Love and Many Blessings,