For years I have sought out with fierce determination conversations, books and articles such as this. Articles with titles like “5 Steps To Wellness,” “7 Must-Have self-care Tips” or “10 Ways for a Healthier You.”
From peer-reviewed articles to O Magazine, I sift through pages with critical eyes looking for that aha moment where I find something new to share with teachers, administrators, students and other caring professionals. I usually ignore the introductions and skip ahead to the bullet points and bold print, only to find the same strategies time and again, like mindful breathing, healthy boundaries, diet and exercise, aromatherapy, etc.
It is this moment when I immediately feel let down … again. How can something as simple as taking care of ourselves turn into something so challenging? Why don’t these things feel satisfying? What is getting in the way?
Seven years ago, I started out on a mission to break down self-care, give it some rules, some structure and some checkboxes. I saturated myself with data and conversations with anyone who had gained ground in this area. I wanted to synthesize in a bento-box format the dos and don’ts of self-care.
I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, so my focus was professional and personal strategies, from low-impact disclosure, hand-brain model, setting healthy boundaries and much more. At one point I included more than 40 different self-care strategies in my presentations, but STILL got feedback wanting more strategies. What the ... “More?” I wanted to scream. “I just gave you 40, like an hour ago. You want more?”
Click here to read the full article written by Larissa Krause and published in Youth Today: Fighting Burnout and Compassion with Lots of Self Care Ideas
Larissa Krause is an associate clinical social worker who works for a Humboldt County, California, elementary school and lectures at Humboldt State Universityas the assistant director of distance learning and field education for the Department of Social Work. She also researches and presents on the topic sustainable wellness and self-care practices for caring professionals.
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