Extreme Self Care – Message from Sharon Hwang
For most of us the concept of self care gets lost among our priorities (kids, spouse, work, home, family, etc. etc.), the never ending to do list and the societal pressures to work hard, push yourself and don’t lose your competitive edge. It becomes more and more difficult to create time for ourselves and not feel guilty about it. BUT the costs associated with pushing self care to the bottom of the list are profound…emotionally, mentally and physically.
So where to start?
The core of self care is ultimately about honoring your body’s natural wisdom and cycles. It is about taking care of yourself at a deep level. Which means forcing yourself to slow down and not buy into this myth of more.
Reframe who is in charge of your life
Let go of the idea that anyone knows your body better than you do.
Get in touch with your body and your feminine side
Commit to a weekly yoga class, or a weekly walk by yourself. Get a massage once a month, take a bath, stretch. Allow yourself to be in your body.
Schedule in self care
As with any business meeting, school event, soccer practice, or social event, put in self care on your calendar as non-negotiable time.
Let go of being perfect
Your house doesn’t need to be perfectly clean, you don’t need to make gourmet meals from scratch, your desk doesn’t need to be perfectly organized. Give yourself some breathing room for margin and mistakes.
Take time to reflect
Take 15-30 minutes everyday to reflect on what is happening in your life – journal, meditate, and reflect on how you are feeling at that moment.
Learn to say “no”
If we don’t learn to say “no” we can easily get overwhelmed and waste a lot of time on things that are not that important to our lives.
Be gentle with yourself. Taking care of yourself is a process and change in mindset. It has taken me years to re-program the condition response I have to always put everyone else first. But I am here to say, slow down, work smart, honor yourself and don’t worry about what others are doing. If you do you are certain to fall back into “normal” everyday pattern of over work and exhaustion.

To your health,

Sharon Hwang
Owner/Director