Wellness Letter: A Health Coach's Guide to Self Care

This week, PSC talked with Megan Sullivan (@mrs.megansullivan) about digestible self-care practices and ways to implement them into our lives, as winter approaches. On top of being a working mom to three young boys, as a full-time real estate agent in Greenwich, CT, Megan is a graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and offers her services as a health coach through her wellness website inmomhealth.com.

Without further ado, we'll hand this over to Megan.

Why I Self Care

I never thought we would be in a world of isolation and crisis and then came Covid-19. Self-care has become an essential way to navigate this pandemic and remain as healthy as possible. Although it sounds indulgent, self-care is critical to our ability to show up for others and preserve mental health and well-being. More specifically, engaging in your own care:

Boosts Physical Health - Self-care is not just about your mental health. It’s also about caring for your physical self, by eating healthy, taking adequate sleep, caring about your hygiene, exercising regularly, etc.

Improves Emotional Health- By feeling good about yourself and your self-worth you improve your resilience in the face of life’s stressors.

Makes You a Better Caregiver - People who neglect their own self-care and personal needs have been shown to have higher levels of unhappiness, feelings of resentment, and low self-esteem. It becomes very hard to become a good partner, caregiver if you don’t take care of yourself.

Helps with Stress Management - Self-care can dramatically reduce stress and with it reduce the risk of obesity, migraines, depression, anxiety, low sex drive, trouble getting pregnant, inflammation, and more.

Ways to Promote Self Care

Create Your Space: have a space for working out, working, and quiet time to decompress.

Movement: Start your day with daily movement, even if it is 15 minutes, get up and move.

Get outside: Getting fresh air and much-needed vitamin D outdoors is essential to immune support and overall well-being.

Stay Connected: Although we are practicing social distancing, it is important to stay connected with friends and family. The CDC suggests talking with people you love and trust about how you’re feeling to help you cope with stress and, in turn, deepen your friendships and strengthen your community. Write a letter to a friend, send a text, schedule a zoom cocktail party.

Get Organized: This is the perfect time to tackle in-home organizing projects, computer decluttering, updating address books, and spring cleaning.

Give Yourself Time: It is okay to feel scared, uncomfortable, lost, lonely, sad, and mad. We have never been in a time like this. Reach out to a friend, practice self-care, and self-love.

Weekly Meal & Self Care Planning

I love planning for the week on Saturdays (I am a firm believer that the week starts on Sunday). By planning your week with workouts, meals, self-care you are able to carve out the time you need. I find that doing the work on a Saturday and starting the week on a Sunday is a great recipe. Below is what I print out weekly to keep me on track: