Anyone who has worked with me knows the importance I place on self-care.The reason for the emphasis is that I know first-hand what stress can do – I’ve got the malfunctioning adrenal glands to prove it. Although stress happens to just about everyone, the way we nurture ourselves on multiple levels – physically, mentally, emotionally, [...]

About six weeks ago, Micky Jones’ book, “Keep the Fires Burning – Conquering stress and burnout as a Mother-Baby Professional”, made its way into my hands, and quickly, her words made their way into my heart.

Stress is an interesting creature. It can burn you up slowly, over years and years, or it can get you in an instant.

In my case, stress has burned through me at a slow pace for a number of years. I’m a huge advocate and practitioner of self-care, and I have a number of practices in my toolkit. However, physical exercise was not a tool I actively used.

One subtitle in “Keep the Fires Burning” changed everything for me – “Move Your Body – Sweat is Your Body Crying Happy Tears!”

I’ve been hearing from birth professionals who are struggling with finding clients and getting hired. These women are very actively marketing themselves. They’re putting themselves out there, making contacts, getting interviews, following up, but they’re just not closing the sale, or they’re not attracting the kind of clients they want – namely, paying clients.

In almost all of these stories lies a similar, underlying message – I’m not good enough.

You’ve created your vision for your family life and business. You made a list of goals, and you’ve identified systems that can help with efficiency, time management, and overall household peace. Now it’s time to break down your systems and goals into smaller tasks and start implementation.

Three years ago, I decided to figure out what Facebook was all about. In the beginning I made an honest mistake – I accidentally sent a friend request to EVERYONE I had ever emailed from my Gmail account. Within a week I had over 100 friends!

I discovered high school classmates and business colleagues. I sent out friend requests to people I’d known and liked. Eventually I began getting friend requests from blog readers and other birth workers. Occasionally, I began getting friend requests from people who saw I was a friend of their friend, or I was on a forum they were a part of. Sometimes I’d reject a request, but most of the time I’d accept them all.

A few months after I joined Facebook, I came down with bronchitis which turned into pneumonia. I was bedridden off and on for about 3 months, so I decided it was time to decipher Twitter, since reading and clicking was about the only thing I could bring myself to do during that time.

After I attend a birth, it’s important for me to process through it. Sometimes I ask my husband to listen, sometimes I call a fellow doula or mentor, and every time, I put pen to paper. My whole being runs the gamut of emotions

For the home business owner, time management is critical for maintaining peace of mind and peace within your family. It’s important that you be as productive as possible in the time you set aside for work so you can enjoy life more when you’re away from it.

We each have 24 hours in a day, in which we have to fit in eating, sleeping, exercise, working in and on our business, taking care of our family, and the other responsibilities we have in our lives. In every moment we have choices – staying present in the moment and working mindfully based on our values and goals, or tending to the fires that have to be put out throughout the day.

Do your days run you? Do you feel like you spend a lot of your time reacting to what’s going on around you right now than deliberately planning your day? Are you ready to slow down and take control of your schedule? Are you ready to do more meaningful activities and live more consciously?

Stephen Covey says the “essence of these needs is captured in the phrase ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy’.” Explore a new way of looking at self care and how it helps enable you to serve others in the work you do and the life you live.