Music and Intro Message
I’m Dr. Moira. I’m a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven’t always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn’t sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach, with a unique approach to coach growth, the Coaching Hive Blueprint combines creating a mindful vision with inspiring guidance and progress-driven learning. The coaching hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the coaching hive while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today’s podcast, then let’s go and remember that this podcast is family-friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speakers.
Introduction
This month has been a big one at the Coaching Hive as we focused on passion and purpose. In Episode 28, we sat down with best-selling author, Amy McLaren as she launched her new book, Passion to Purpose. The Coaching Hive has welcomed 29 book club members, gained NBHWC Approved Continuing Education Provider status, r
Welcome to a new month with the Coaching Hive podcast. Here we are. It is September and I am ready for the fall months. Now here in South Carolina, we are not going to have fall weather for probably another two months easy, but my brain is already getting there. I’m already thinking about how I want to settle into the fall months and really take care of myself as we move into these shorter days where self-care really seems to be a little bit trickier. The time when it gets darker earlier. We start to snuggle in, we get on the couch a little bit more.
So as we say goodbye to the summer weather, September is going to be all about self-care. Why? Because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “There isn’t enough time for self-care” or “If I want to be a truly effective entrepreneur or who needs that frou-frou stuff anyway, I’d rather see progress in my business”.
Do You Have the Time?
You have probably either heard or said something similar self-care is often put on the back burner, and I can see why you might say these things and do that because I’ve been there. I’ve done that as well. And you think to yourself, okay, I’ll do that. When I get the next items ticked off my to-do list,
I’ll do that when, and you know what I’ll do that when becomes days and weeks and months, and maybe even years down the road. And it might be because you’re thinking, well, why would a bubble bath or a massage or a walk or a bike ride, or even painting my nails, be an integral part of my business.
Let me tell you, it is an integral part of your business and maybe painting your nails is not high on your list. Maybe it is not a form of self-care for you, but for others, I would argue it is. Maybe it’s that time of the day when you sit down, and you let your brain calm down. You let your body calm down and it gives you kind of a mindless task to focus on so that you can sort through your thoughts.
You know what happens when you sort through those thoughts? You have an a-ha moment where something new and innovative comes to mind. What happens when you go for that walk? Not only are you engaging your core muscles, not only are you getting your heart rate up and improving your cardiovascular health, and you’re allowing your brain to function more effectively, more efficiently. You are going to allow your body to get a better night’s rest because you have taken a walk. And I don’t know about you, but when I’m walking, I often have those a-ha moments. I also tend to come back from that walk, ready and reinvigorated to sit down. I’m more focused and more effective.
And isn’t that what we want as entrepreneurs, as health coaches, building businesses, don’t you want to be effective and efficient. Of course, don’t you want to be creative and innovative? Absolutely! Don’t you want to be able to serve your clients with an open mind, with a creative mind with possibilities right in front of you? 100% Yes!
So, when we think about self-care, it’s not about the frou-frou stuff. It’s truly about making sure that you’re taking time. That you’re taking time away from the pulls and pushes of life to reconnect with who you are. To reconnect with your body’s needs. To reconnect with your social needs, your physical needs, your psychological needs; the bio-psycho-social approach. And when we do that, when we are integrating that into our self-care, then it’s not frou-frou or woo-woo. It is the down and dirty work that makes us more effective, makes us much more able to move through our day to day lives with success.
So, September is all about self-care. I have seen recently, especially in the last two years or so many people adopting new forms of self-care. I’m enrolled in a course right now. It’s 15 weeks and all about yoga for stress relief. And in that course, we’re talking about how to use yoga, to reground ourselves, to recenter ourselves and to use it to be more effective.
Take Action
So how are you this week going to integrate self-care into your daily or weekly routine? What might this look like? It might mean taking a 10-minute walk in the morning, a 10-minute walk at lunch and a 10-minute walk after dinner. Guess what? You’ve had 30 minutes of activity if you do that, but you haven’t had to carve out 30 minutes in a big chunk.
What if it means sitting somewhere comfortable, nice and quiet, and focusing on your breath in and out and doing that for five minutes at the start of the day and five minutes at the end of the day?
What if self-care for you this week means drinking more water instead of soda? What if it means making sure you don’t skip any meals? Making sure that you stop and sit down to nourish yourself with food? What do you think will happen if you make this commitment this week? Just one week of self-care. I can tell you what will happen. You will likely start to sleep better. I bet you start to solve some of those problems that have been on your plate, that you haven’t quite figured out the answer to, but you find those solutions. I bet that when you take time for self-care, you show up more authentically for your clients, for your family, for your friends.
So, is it about the bubble bath? Is it about the massage, the walk, the bike ride, painting your nails? No, it really isn’t, but it is about being intentional and not just running every single moment of the day. In the United States, in particular, we have a mindset of go, go, go. I think the pandemic has slowed that down a little bit and people an opportunity to reset. And if you have not yet had an opportunity to do a little bit of that resetting, maybe now is the time.
It starts with just one day and then it starts with the next day. We take it one day at a time incorporating that self-care, it doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to cost anything, but it does have to happen. As an entrepreneur, as a health coach, how are you going to show up for your business this week by committing yourself to daily self-care?
I cannot wait to hear your ideas and your thoughts as we move through the month of September and talk about self-care. We talked about purpose in August. We talked all about purpose and you know what? Self-care will support your purpose and your passion. It will allow you to be more effective in pursuing your passion and your purpose.
And if you’re a health coach serving others remaining committed to self-care will also help you be a good role model. You are going to show your clients firsthand. What it looks like to take care of yourself. Maybe it’s journaling, maybe it’s getting outside and walking. I walk on the treadmill inside with a view of the window outside because that makes me happy. Maybe it’s getting out and swimming. Maybe it’s walking along the creek, going to your local national park and hiking. Maybe it’s just a walk downtown. Whatever it is, whether it’s painting your nails, that bubble bath, a massage, a warm cup of tea in the morning, or at night, take 10, 15, 20 minutes each day for some form of self-care to allow you to reconnect with who you are. And as you do that, notice the effects. Notice your creativity, notice your empathy, your empathy stores being restored. Notice your compassion. Notice your willingness to step up to those challenges and to solve those challenges. And as you do this, I’d love to hear from you. I would love to know what your favorite form of self-care is this week and how you plan to incorporate it.
Not just this week, but the next week too. And until next week’s take time each day and every day I’ve kept this podcast short so that you can go and practice some self-care. So, I’ll see you back here next week. And in the meantime, I look forward to hearing from you about what form of self-care you’re using this week.
I’ll see you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast.
~ Dr. Moira
