Hi and happy Feel-Good Monday!

This is where we share our favorite tips, tricks, secrets, and ways to "think like a healthy person" so that you can find your own delicious path to healthy living.

"Feel-Good Mondays" are meant to help us get back into that place of feeling energized, nourished, and ready to take inspired action for the week ahead.  

Last week I was asked to lead a workshop for women executives on the topic of self-care (in particular, how can we create enough time for self-care when we’re also trying to focus on career, relationships, family life, etc?).

I LOVE this topic because prioritizing self-care is one the most important things we can do in our lives to improve our health and happiness – and yet it’s often one of the first things we toss out of the window in our quest to “do more,” “be more.”

Almost all of the executives who attended the workshop said that they struggled with focusing on self-care as much as they would like to, and almost all reported that having enough time (or rather, not having enough time) was their biggest challenge around self-care.

But even though everyone reported wanting to focus more on self-care in general, their priorities were uniquely their own. Almost no one had the same top self-care desire. From eating more cleanly, more time for the gym, yoga, and daily meditation to quitting someone’s current job to learning to say “no” more often, our “self-care” needs are going to be so different from person-to-person.

For me, self-care comes in the form of espresso many days. One of the highlights of each day is taking a morning walk with Rye to our favorite local coffee shop. As I wear him in the baby carrier on our way to grab an iced espresso, we sing, babble, and point out the sights along the way (bird! car! baby! flower!). The sheer joy Rye experiences in simply witnessing the world (and smiling at strangers) can make me giddy all morning long. In the afternoons when I’m on my own, I grab another espresso. This time it’s for quiet, contemplative, reflective time. It renews me for the afternoon ahead.

Morning time with Rye

Self-care, for me, is also about taking lots of vacations (preferably someplace warm, with loads of palm trees) to unplug, relax, have fun and laugh, and to reconnect with my husband and our family.

It’s also about delicious meals, cooked at home or enjoyed at a favorite restaurant. And it’s about making time for “less clean” foods that I love (like tortilla chips!!) by balancing it out with healthier choices the rest of the week.

What does self-care mean to you? Where could you use more of it? What’s getting in the way of treating yourself phenomenally?

Wishing you a day of spontaneous self-care deliciousness – whatever that means to you :-).

With love,

P.S. – What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to taking the best care of yourself? Tell me about it on our facebook page!