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In order to raise your voice for others, you have to take care of yourself first. That’s where self care comes in. If you like this tip, be sure to sign up for the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive your copy of The Revolution Starts with Me! self care zine for more tips and self care resources.

We know how important self care really is, but how often are we actually incorporating it in our lives? A better question is this: If you are incorporating self care in your life, which area is receiving the most (and the least) attention?

Here’s another great resource from The University of Buffalo School of Social Work,  at the State University of New York, called the  Self Care Assessment. Adapted by Saakvitne, Pearlman, & Staff of TSI/CAAP (1996), the Self Care Assessment touches upon 6 areas: physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, relationship, and professional.

Use this as a tool to think more about what areas of your life you pay more attention to, and which areas need more attention.

Take the Self Care Assessment

In order to raise your voice for others, you have to take care of yourself first. That’s where self care comes in. If you like this tip, be sure to sign up for the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive your copy of The Revolution Starts with Me! self care zine for more tips and self care resources.

In order to raise your voice for others, you have to take care of yourself first. That’s where self care comes in. If you like this tip, be sure to sign up for the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive your copy of The Revolution Starts with Me! self care zine for more tips and self care resources. 

This is one of my favorite self care exercises (and actually one of the most difficult to do)!

Created by Christine Kane, singer/songwriter and president/founder of UpLevel You , this self care exercise drives home how we often try to keep ourselves busy, fitting in so many activities to make ourselves believe that we’re being productive. What we need to realize, however, stillness (i.e., “not doing anything”) is when things start to happen. Christine says, “[We] think it’s all about the “doing.” And yes, there is some “doing”…But just as composers believe that a great piece of music is a lot about the rests in between the notes– I believe that a creative happy life is a lot about the rests between the activities.“

Christine calls this ”intentional boredom“, a period where you allow some down time in order for ideas and thoughts to flow. It’s where things begin to build. Think about strength training. When you lift weights, you damage the muscles fibers. However, your day of rest from lifting weights is when the muscle actually repairs itself, becoming stronger.

Intentional boredom can be very uncomfortable because we feel that we have to do something with our time. However, as author Echkart Tolle writes, ”As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it. As the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.“

So, try out this self care exercise for the next 7 days:

1 – Take out your calendar.

2 – Schedule in 10-minute blocks of “Intentional Boredom” time for 7 consecutive days, starting today.

3 – Show up at your scheduled time. Turn off distractions (your phone, the TV, etc.) and be still. It will feel uncomfortable, but think to yourself, “It’s only 10 minutes!” Allow whatever comes into your mind to flow in and out effortlessly. Consider this your me-time away from the everyday distractions in life.