How to prioritise self-care to become the best version of ourselves – Featuring Mel Kettle
When was the last time you truly prioritised yourself?
We can all face stress from time to time, and if we’re not careful, the stress compounds until we reach burnout.
A holistic approach needs to include physical wellbeing and mental health at work, but also in everyday life whether, we provide care for others, are self-employed or work for someone else.
Trailblazer Mel Kettle is passionate about this topic and shares her wisdom and life experience through her mentoring and workshops with executive team boards and business owners.
In Episode five of the WNA Trailblazers podcast, we hear from this incredible woman as she shares why self-care is so important and necessary, and how we can be our best selves and properly support others by putting ourselves first.
Before we thrive, we need to get out of survival mode
The benefits of putting ourselves first are huge. However, before we can thrive, we need to get out of that survival mode.
As Mel explains, when you’re surviving, you’re just going through the motions and you’re quite overwhelmed with life.
“You don’t really know how to cope with anything that’s not within your little narrow window of what you feel that you have control over, which isn’t very much. When you’re stuck, you’re going in circles, you’re unhappy, you’re unsure about things, and you’re unfocused,’’ says Mel.
Ask yourself these self-care questions
What is it that you are doing to put yourself first on your to-do list?
How are you going to allocate your time?
How are you going to make sure you have enough energy?
Do you have exercise on your calendar?
Do you have eating lunch every day as a plan to do?
How are you going to put yourself first, and what does that look like?
Do you have a good understanding of what your core priorities are?
Become the best version of yourself
Self-care helps us to recharge our batteries to show up for ourselves and others. As the saying goes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup,” meaning that we can’t take care of others and show up every day if we aren’t taking care of ourselves and prioritising our own physical and mental health.
When we put ourselves first, we are not only happier and healthier, but we are also more human. We’re more willing to be vulnerable and we’re more willing to show up with authenticity and empathy.
Creates a culture of belonging
Self-care helps to create a culture of belonging both in a family and workplace environment. When people feel like they belong, they are less likely to feel lonely and isolated.
Organisations that have cultures of belonging have greater focus and productivity. Research has also found that 88% of employees strongly agree that a sense of belonging leads to higher productivity at work. Not only this, a culture of belonging leads to fewer accidents and injuries, as well as far less absentees.
Self-care leads to resilience
There’s no denying that one of the most important qualities not only in the workplace, but in everyday life is resilience.
When we have challenges that come our way, we are much more prepared to deal with them. Why? Because when we feel good about yourself, we are much able to cope with things that might fall outside of our preferred way of life.
“We need to remember that it’s okay to not be okay, and we can’t be ‘on’ all the time. It’s like our phones can’t be on all the time, we have to plug them in to charge them. And so, we need to be plugging our bodies, and our brains, and our souls, and our minds in to recharge those every day as well,’’ says Mel.
Explore more on this topic, including how great leaders prioritise themselves, reclaim their energy and find joy in Mel Kettle’s book Fully Connected.
To hear more insights into why self-care is crucial in helping us to be the best versions of ourselves, connect with WNA Trailblazers. LISTEN TO EPISODE 6 AND SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
You can support future episodes of the WNA Trailblazers podcast by donating via Go Fund Me, or subscribing to our Patreon link.