Healthy Tips Video: Healthy Habits for Self-care

Video Transcript

Hello, my name is David Roark. I am a mental health therapist with Owensboro Health's Employee Assistance Program located in the Healthpark.

Today, I would like to talk about being mindful of self-care. Now, in our fields, we all know the importance self-care and individual ways to do it. But oftentimes, we find ourselves not following through with the things we tell other people to do.

I have a list of five questions that are going to help us to be more aware in monitoring, keeping up, and being accountable for doing our own self-care habits.

Question one is, how would improve self-care improve my job performance? Now, we are all in the business of taking care of people. And the simple fact is this. If you're not taking full care of yourself, you're not going to be able to take full care of other people.

So looking at it that way, it can often be a great motivator to be a little bit more accountable in doing the things that are taking care of yourself.

Question number two is, which of my regular habits negatively affect my self-care? For me personally, I can tell you. Eating sweets and spending way too much time on my phone are two of those habits, which probably negatively impact my self-care.

It can be very helpful to even make a not-to-do list. Putting the things that probably take away from positive self-care. And you can also come up with positive alternatives like, such for me, when I feel like getting a sweet, have a glass of water. When I'm spending too much screen time, get up and take a walk.

Question number three is, what can I do for self-care? One of the things that has benefited me is to make a list. And you can either laminate it, or you can put it on your phone. And have that list right there, where you have a little bit of downtime, check it. And it can be something small. Or it can be something big. And that way, you are much more likely to remember activities that you can do to help promote self-care.

Question four, how can I keep myself accountable of doing self-care? There are several different ways. One, you can keep a list. And you can make a chart of when you're doing a self-care act. You can actually set alarms on a phone to remind you daily to do that. Or you could even have somebody with you to help keep accountable. And you could check on each other two or three times a day and make sure that you're doing the things that you set out to do in keeping mindful of being in self-care mode.

The final question is the biggie. That is, what are my excuses? Excuses, for me, are the things I give myself not to do the things that I probably should be doing. So when we become aware of what our excuses are, we're much more able to rationally counter those.

For me, a big one is, there's not enough time. If I can counter that with how much time do you really need to read an affirmation to yourself? Or to take a small walk? It helps a whole lot to be able to follow through in what I need to do.

So those are five questions to help you be mindful and promoting better self-care. I hope those help, and we'll see you next time.

For more information on this topic or other well being resources, please contact the Healthpark at 270-688-5433.