Giving Yourself Care

Hi, guys. It's Shannon from allow. Good morning. I'm a couple minutes late, so thank you for your patience. So I am today going to talk about the concept of. Well, we're going to talk about words. We're going to talk about how to give yourself care. But what we're first going to talk about is three separate words, three separate phrases that we talk about in culture when it comes to talking about care, caring for ourselves or caring for others. Okay, so the first phrase and how I want you to approach this exercise is I just want you to listen to each of these three phrases.

I want you to think about what might come up in your mind for you and just sit with it. Good morning, junk food junkie. Thank you for being here. I'm glad you're back. Thinking. We've been thinking of you. Okay, so three phrases. The first phrase is, what do you think of when you hear the word or the phrase give yourself care? Okay, so that's the first phrase. Give yourself care. Now, what do you think of when you hear the second phrase, caregiver? Think about what comes to mind for that. Right?

Where does that live in your world? What does that mean to you? And then the last one I want us to think about is self care. Okay, so those are the three phrases we're going to think about. Hi, Kelsey. Hi, Luke. Thanks for being here. Good morning, everybody. So I'm going to say them one more time and again, just think about what comes to mind. Think about what you feel inside of you. Think about where in the world you go when you think about these three things. Number one, give yourself care. Number two, caregiver.

And number three is self care. So I'm bringing this up because in culture, when we talk about caregiving, which is a very common phrase, or we talk about self care, or as I learned in therapy, the concept that I need to give myself care, which to me feels different culturally than self care. I feel like they're very different feelings that come up in our minds. So giving yourself care for me was one that, again, I learned in therapy. It was really difficult when my therapist said, like, how can you take care of yourself?

And I just was like, ugh. It was really itchy. It felt. I think I said to her, this feels like an itchy sweater. I don't. I don't like to think about that. It makes me feel all these things. So that was the first one for me. When I think of caregiver, that's a really popular term in healthcare culture today. There are millions of caregivers. There's actually, I think, $600 billion in unpaid caregiver work that happens every week, whether it's someone taking care of a parent with dementia, whether it's someone taking care of someone with a disability.

But caregiver is a very. It's a very, you know, well worn word in the healthcare space. And then when you think of self care, that feels totally different to me. Self care could mean like a bubble bath, right? Self care could mean reading a book. It could mean a massage. So if you juxtapose those three sort of phrases that exist in the world and think about how we look at caring for humans in our culture, they're very different, and they all come with connotations that might be good or bad, however that frames up in your own mind.

So what I want to point out today is that we are all humans. So in all of these phrases, no matter how that manifests culturally, there's a human at the center. And all of us will be receiving care or giving care at some point in our lives because we're humans. That's just the truth. That's absolutely what's going to happen. Even if your family system is you, you will be receiving care, you will be giving care, and that's just true. So I think today, I'm just asking everyone to think about the idea of just a human.

Just a human. You're a human. I'm a human. I often, when I feel tired with the world and humanity, I think about babies that were just born, because I have an inherent belief that people are born good. That's just my belief. I believe that people are born to be good in the world, and they're born wanting to be good. And so I think about that, and that's a human that needs care. And we were all that baby one time, and now we're just dressed up versions of those babies with degrees and families and all the things.

But at the end of the day, we're just this little, tiny baby that came out good, that needs care. And so I think that is. That is just really important. Right? And there's nothing wrong with any of these things. And so if you need to give yourself care, you absolutely deserve that care. If you are a caregiver, you're doing a beautiful gift. You're giving a beautiful gift of your love to someone else. They deserve that care. And going back to our last phrase, self care, you deserve to also take care of yourself in that process.

And so I just want us to reframe that today. And just remember that as we. I'm going to talk more and more about caring for ourselves in the coming weeks and months because I don't think we're taught how to do that. And so I think it's just important. That's an important thing. And, yes, junk food junkie. Number one, take care of your health. Number two is caring for loved ones. And number three is take time for yourself. I love that. I love that so much. I think you're exactly right. I think taking care of your health has to be number one, because if you don't, you can't take care of anyone else.

So, thank you guys for joining me this morning. I appreciate it. And we're gonna talk more about this, but I want you to walk away today knowing that you deserve to be cared for. And so whatever that is for you today, I hope that you take a moment and do that and just feel loved and think of if you need to remember, if it's hard for you to give yourself care, remember today you were that little, tiny baby that was born completely whole and good. And so even as your adult self today, you know that taking care of that baby is the right thing.

And so just, if you need to do that, remind yourself and go through that exercise. But I'm here to tell you that you are absolutely worthy of care. Thank you, jopa joy. All right, everybody, I'm done now. I'm gonna press stop, but I will see you later this week to talk more about taking care of ourselves. Have a great week, friends. We'll see you soon. Okay, bye.