Self-Care

Over the years, several people have recommended journaling as an emotional self-care strategy. For a while, I successfully adhered to a nightly routine of writing streams of consciousness across journal pages. After a couple of weeks, I inevitably dropped the practice. When I looked back at my entries, I realized that most of the writing was simple summaries documenting my day-to-day to-do lists. The ritual of selecting the perfect smooth-writing pens, inspirationally adorned journals, and soul-searching daily writing prompts completely failed to support my emotional self-care journey.

One highly effective way for organizations to live the Eight Dimensions of Wellness out loud is for leaders in the organization to think about their school, nonprofit, or government agency as though our organization was one person. This is different than how we normally think. Typically, we view the schools, nonprofits, or programs we lead as systems made up of departments full of people with a variety of roles. Instead, let’s think of our organization as though it were one person, and reflect on opportunities we might have to make self-care systemic by living the Eight Dimensions of Wellness out loud.

I recently led a workshop on self-care for an amazing group of caring professionals from Youth on Their Own, YOTO. While feedback from the workshop was positive, participants did ask for more time to work with three specific activities that accompany the Eight Dimensions of Wellness Cards. Below are the activities and an explanation of how to use them. Feel free to use them for your own personal reflection, or as part of a whole-staff development.

Self-care is a journey—and because we’re all in different places on this journey—helping others heal requires some familiarity with the map. Build healing-centered schools by practicing self-love, self-awareness, and self-service: first towards yourself and then your school community.