NEW YEAR, NEW YOU!
Happy New Year!
As the confetti of a brand new year is settling around us, I’m hearing many people talk about their New Year’s resolutions. There’s this collective buzz of excitement surrounding the “New Year, New Me” motto and I often see it linked to losing weight, traveling, making more money, and other personal goals. Some of these resolutions, however simple, often have more complicated steps in achieving them. Perhaps even more importantly to mention, they are often a challenge to maintain long-term.
This year, I’d like to help you achieve a long-lasting goal that is simple in its steps and implementation: Self-Care.
Self-care isn’t so much a resolution but an ongoing practice we should prioritize throughout our lives. Over the next year, I will break down my “12 Steps for Self-Care” to help you embrace this important commitment to yourself. Starting out with, “If it feels wrong, don’t do it.”
The universe always has a funny way of providing answers when I’m looking for them. While thinking about what to say for this step, I stumbled upon a recent meme that spoke to this self-care topic. It was a picture of Snoopy, and it read: “Do the right thing, even if no one is watching. It’s called integrity.”
I then got to witness this meme in action with my grandsons. While at a family dinner, I gave Pokemon cards to my youngest grandson with the instructions that half of them were for his brother, who was away at a school function for the evening. Unsurprisingly, my youngest wanted all of the cards for himself and suggested that I let him have three-fourths of the cards because his brother would never know. I just smiled and asked him, “And how would you like that if your brother did that to you?”
As I was leaving that night, he asked me one more time, “Are you sure I can’t take more of the cards?” I just looked at him and said, “It’s your choice, but you know my intention.” I later found out that my youngest did give his brother his fair share of the cards, and I couldn’t help but have a proud grandma moment for my youngest grandson. He chose the path of integrity. Even when he could’ve kept all the Pokemon cards to himself, he chose not to because he knew it felt wrong. It’s moments like this where I hope I may be so blessed to maintain my integrity despite temptations.
Admittedly, I do struggle with this self-care recommendation. I had a moment like this happen recently while leaving a grocery store. A man held the door open for me, and I thanked him and walked through. However, right behind me, there was a Hispanic woman with her hands full heading to the door. The man did not hold the door for her as she was coming and proceeded to walk through and leave without extending the same courtesy to her that he had shown me. I took a step or two before I realized that this could’ve been a very subtle form of racism. The realization hit me in my gut, and I’m ashamed to admit that it didn’t dawn on me to speak up. The lingering guilt I felt throughout the day, and the compromised state of my solar plexus showcased a lapse in my integrity, as well as a missed opportunity for self-care in failing to do the right thing in the light of something that felt wrong.
The valuable takeaway from this encounter and my heightened awareness of my own white privilege inspired me to be a better role model for my grandchildren and others. I feel a responsibility to raise my voice when I am witness to racism or any manifestation of prejudice. It is my personal commitment to align with what is right because it not only benefits others but also contributes to my own well-being. It’s as if the universe itself is showing how a small act of self-care can have a profound impact. I hope to keep upholding this principle and other forms of self-care to inspire you on your self-care journey throughout this year and beyond!
Stay tuned for next month as we explore how to say EXACTLY what we mean as the next step in the 12 Steps of Self-Care.
January Networking Call:
Fine Tuning your Intuitive Skills
Mark your calendars for January 15th at 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 7 pm CT / 8 pm ET for our networking call featuring Cindy Parsons. During this session, Cindy will walk you through how to fine-tune your intuitive skills. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your energetic horizons.
Consider this a monthly self-care, support, and networking call! You are part of the Energy Medicine Specialists community!
Cindy Parsons,
RN, BSN, MS-HCA, SEM
To your journey,
Cindy Parsons, RN, BSN, MS-HCA, SEM
Holistic Nurse
Energy Medicine Practitioner
Instructor—Energy Medicine Specialists
(Read more about Cindy here).