How long is your daily self-care routine?  I’m not talking about the occasional visit to get your mani-pedi and your massage. I am talking about the things you do every day to take care of you and ensure you are at your peak optimal health. Sustainable self-care is the routine you create around meal-planning, fitness, mindset, managing your stress, and all the pieces that go into looking and feeling your best.

Creating a Sustainable Self-Care Routine

Do you think your routine is too long? Should it be longer? Is there such a thing as something that is too long or too short when it comes to taking care of yourself? 

Personally, I believe that there is no such thing as a self-care routine that is too long. A client of mine confessed she felt her self-care routine was getting too long, but she wasn’t able to really explain why it was a problem. As a coach, I knew I needed to address this conditioned response we have to believing that we don't deserve to take time to take care of ourselves. 

Emotions Around Our Self-Care Routines 

Guilt 

I have noticed some clients experience guilt if their routine is “too long.”  As an example, I’ll share my routine with you: today I got up about 90 minutes before I have to leave the house (I know some of you are rolling your eyes that you aren’t morning people! - I’m not either, but every time I make the time, it’s sooo worth it and my day starts out perfectly!). I did my morning meditation, drank my coffee, did my morning routine at home, went to the gym for a 75 minute workout, and then finished it up with some red light therapy and a few other things that help my body from the inside out. All of this took about three hours. Please don’t tell me you don’t have three hours - yes you do. I can help you find it. I can even help you find an extra five hours. 

Shame 

Conversely, if they see their routine as “too short” they sometimes experience shame and feelings that they aren’t doing enough and they should be doing more to take care of themselves. They worry they will be judged for not excelling more in the self-care department. 

Either way, it doesn't need to be that way. It just doesn't. You don't have to put parameters on taking care of yourself. Your routine should be as long or as short as you decide it needs to be. Putting yourself first is the most unselfish thing you can do.

Finding Time for Sustainable Self Care

I created my coaching program, Self Care for Female Leaders, around the principle of knowing self care is the only thing that is going to keep you happy, keep you feeling good, and keep you being able to do all the things that you do without it running you into the ground. It’s designed over 12 weeks and during that time you learn how to take care of yourself alongside the life you already have - whether you are a business owner or a high achieving hard working person that just runs the world from someone else's company. 

• You don't have to give up time with your kids. 
• You don't have to give up time with your spouse. 
• You don't have to cook a separate meal every day for yourself. 
• You don't have to eat chicken and broccoli out of a plastic box. 
• And you don't have to live in the gym. 
• And still have time for your social life.
• You still have time to sit down and binge on Netflix if that's what makes you happy.

The beauty about this is you can do all of these things. 

The program will get you results. If you put in the work, you will get results. In the event we don’t get it right, I will continue to work with you until we get it right. 

That's how much I want you to succeed. 

That's how much I want you to feel better, look better, and be healthier. 

The Best Time to Start is Now

If you give me 12 weeks, if you give yourself 100% effort, you will get results. You will finally feel like you're running your life, instead of it running you. You'll feel like you have time for yourself, you'll feel good about taking the time for yourself. Your stress levels are going to drop because you're going to do the things that help you do that, I'm going to teach you those techniques. Your family and your friends are going to wonder what in the world you're doing. Guess what? They'll want do it too, because you are going to look so happy and amazing.

Summer is coming, and life is starting to get busier. You need to decide right now, before summer gets into full gear, that your health and your wellness is a priority. Otherwise, you will not do anything about it until next October. In five months, you’ll wake up after dreaming of your pumpkin spice latte, and you're going to look in the mirror and say what the hell just happened. I don't want that for you. I want you to feel good all summer long. And by next fall, I want you to look back and think, “That was so worth it. And it was so easy.”

What Is Self Care for Female Leaders About? 

Nutrition 

To be totally transparent, I'm not going to give you a meal plan. Sorry. Instead, I'm going to teach you how to fuel your own body. By yourself and separate from me. I believe if I give you a meal plan, and you succeed on it, then what? You're going to eat that same thing all the time for the rest of your life. That’s not what I want for you. And I believe that's why everybody falls back off after they do so well with these other plans with the shakes, the bars, the pre-made meals, and all that stuff. Once you stop living that lifestyle, you go back to living the lifestyle you were living when you were unhealthy. 

Instead I am going to help you build a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. You decide the food and you are responsible for the cooking and you are in charge of finding alternative options if you hate cooking. No excuses. 

Exercise

I mentioned you don't have to live in the gym, but you do need to exercise. Not because you want to lose fat. You need to exercise because you need muscle. Without muscle, your body will literally disintegrate as you age (I’m going to go out on a limb and say that's not what you're looking for.) 

Remember You Are Worth It

Decide now that you are worth making time for sustainable self care. Stop feeling guilty about making it a priority whether it takes three hours or five hours.  Stop feeling shame around investing thirty minutes in an abbreviated self-care routine if that’s what you need to take care of yourself. 

Self care is everything. If you don't take time to take care of yourself, you will not be able to do the things you're doing at the rate you're doing them for much longer. You will self destruct. You've heard the expression that if you don't take time for your health and wellness, you'll be forced to take time for your illness. There's a lot of different iterations of that, but your body will make you there's no such thing as too long of a self care routine. 

You deserve to take time to take care of yourself every day. With my program, Self Care for Female Leaders. You give me 12 weeks, you give yourself 100% effort and you will feel better and look better. Your self care routine will be on point. Contact me so we can ensure you start giving yourself as much time as you give to the rest of the world without any guilt or shame about it.