Episode 3: Self-care
Meet MK, former nurse turned personal trainer, and Sara, a psychotherapist, two moms and endurance athletes. They met over a short run at a triathlon training camp and instantly bonded, becoming close friends. Despite MK living near Charlotte, NC and Sara in Alpharetta, GA, the two maintain a very close friendship.
Summary
In episode 3, MK and Sara chat about self-care. While both agree that self-care isn’t selfish but entirely necessary, they also know incredibly hard it can be to fit in many days!
Self-care myths and ideals - what we can’t stand!
1. Myth: Show up as your best self every day!
Unfiltered View: Sometimes, good enough, and survival are all we can manage - and that’s OK!
2. Myth: Self-care should be indulgent, extravagant, and always be worth of a social media post - or several!
Unfiltered View: Self-care that is time consuming, and financially unrealistic, or causes you more stress - isn’t worth it, or necessary! Try avoiding the comparison trap and find what works for you!
3. Myth: Everyone else is doing it!
Unfiltered View: Social media is great, until it’s not. It’s addictive and fake! Remember that what you are seeing isn’t real life for most people. If being online is adding to a negative self-narrative, or not making you feel good, feel guilty, or not adding to your life in a positive way, maybe the self-care you need is to step back, step away, or change what you see!
MK’s Self-care
MK touches on how for much of her mom life she has put herself dead last and done very little for herself, but that’s changing!
Her daily self-care includes:
- Not weighing herself
- Listening to her body and adjusting her training to match
- Asking her family for space and taking it
- Setting boundaries
- Audiobooks and podcasts - both the mindless ones and the ones that feed my passions
- Eating without guilt, not working out to “burn off food”
- Naps!
- Therapy
- Curating her social media accounts and friends in real life to match her values and improve her own narrative and self-confidence
- Redefining how she takes in information and feedback from others, and not putting a negative narrative on everything that people say to her
Her self-care indulgences include:
- Facials and Botox
- Tattoos
- Shoes - good quality running shoes, Birkenstocks, Rainbow flip flops, and fun casual shoes
- Buying expensive jeans I know I will wear more than the cheap ones
- Therapy
- This podcast which is the ultimate indulgence of time and self-improvement
MK action item:
- Daily Jay meditation on the Calm App
Sara’s self-care
Sara focuses on things that really bring her joy!
Her daily self-care includes:
- Being intentional in her words and actions with those around her
- Building LEGO
- Daily Jay on the CALM app link
- Netflix, and watching shows mindlessly and without guilt
- Naps!
- Listening to her body - Sara recently dropped out of a half marathon based on the weather and a lack of motivation - she recognized she didn’t have anything to prove and that goals will always be there. (shout outs to Barb and Crystal!)
Her self-care indulgences include:
- Racing with friends like last year’s Ragnar Relay! tag
- Eating Twizzlers and Jellybeans every day
- Shoes
- Honoring herself, leaning into imperfections and being enough without aiming for perfect.
- Setting boundaries
Sara’s action item:
- Avoiding the comparison trap, and not getting into a negative feedback loop worrying about what everyone else is doing
Other highlights from the show:
- A discussion of” good” selfish vs “bad” selfish and how that fits into self-care
- If you don’t put yourself first, no one else will : we teach people how to treat us by how we treat ourselves.
Join us every two weeks for laughs, highs, lows, and our journey to 40 miles. Our next episode will feature our first guest - be sure to tune in to meet our dear friend, Emmeline. From Ironman to ultrarunning, this mom, professor, and engineer has an amazing story of grit and determination you don’t want to miss!
Sponsor
Many thanks to Crystal Evans and her brand, BOLD for her support of our show.
“Bold is your answer to all of your fitness apparel needs. Offering form fitting yoga pants, sports tops, and so much more. Bold is designed for women of all shapes, sizes and ethnic backgrounds with ONE common goal, and that goal is to be BOLD.”
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoldbyCrystal/
Web: https://www.boldbycrystal.com/
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Contact Us
Email: theunfilterednarratives@gmail.com
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Links
Software and recording by Riverside.fm: https://riverside.fm/
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Music via Soundstripe: https://www.soundstripe.com/
“Ride Like You Mean It” by Kristian Leo