I recently spoke with faculty and staff at American University on Self-Care in Stressful Times. We discussed how hard and yet essential it is to prioritize ourselves when facing so many fires in the world and in our own lives, and I shared some tips on incorporating self-care daily as well as making larger shifts to live in a way that honors ourselves.
At the end, I asked the attendees for their takeaways and the self-care practices they’d like to continue or begin and here are a few responses:
“I plan to do better with expressing gratitude.”
“I like to do a walking meditation where I notice signs of spring, for example. It’s a great season to do this on our beautiful campus!”
“Props folder!”*
“I have been inspired to start future team meetings or meetings with supervisees with a moment of acknowlegement/gratitude.”
“I’ve actually been listing to this webinar while exploring the art museum at Katzen, and I didn’t realize just how much I needed this.”
I hope that you’re able to find a few ways to take care of yourself this week. If you’re interested in a training on self-care and resilience for your organization, email me at kmanning@blackbird-dc.com.
* A props folder is part of my advice on celebrating your wins. I suggest keeping an email folder where you drag in any message with a compliment or message of gratitude. Then, on the overwhelming, defeating days, dive into that for a little boost. I’ve done it for years and it’s been so helpful!