What Are Your Plans for Self Care and Smart Action This Year

That’s right! What are your plans for self care and smart action this year? Check this out!

This week we have a vlog!  Feel free to watch above or read below.

Hey, how are you? It’s the beginning of the year. It’s the first week of term here in New South Wales where we are. I know that teachers are getting ready to go back to school or at school already. I just wanted to touch base about how we are planning to look after ourselves personally, health-wise, professionally in the next few months and for the rest of the year. So, I’m not talking about having new year’s resolutions because they often don’t stick but I want us to think about how are we planning to look after ourselves and what can we action right now to make sure that we meet those goals?

Before we start to figure that out, I want to just think who were you last year when you did really well, who was showing up, how were you showing up. When you showed up and did things that went really well, how did that make you feel, and what were you really committed to? So, that can be thought about in both the positive ways and also in a constructive way. When we committed to looking after ourselves and eating healthfully, going for walks or exercise or going to the gym, I guess you might have been showing up for yourself to be healthier and to be more positive which roles over all areas of life. When we are fit and healthy, then everything else seems to go better but on the flip side of that, those weeks, those months when we might be tired, when we might be unwell or when we just are a bit lazy perhaps, how do we go …

Who was showing up and what were we being committed to when things didn’t go so well?

For example, those morning when we’re lying in bed and we feel too tired and it feels way too much just to hit the snooze and to skip that walk or to skip the gym, what are we really committed to? Sometimes this can be really confronting to think about. Are we in those moments when we make those perhaps not so positive decisions. Are we really being committed to the best for ourselves or do we really need to stand up to ourselves and decide no, I’m really committed to being there for my health and just getting up and doing it.

So, we’ve talked a bit about fitness. What about our professional development and our personal development?

Personal development could be professional but it could also be learning a new hobby or doing some research with your child about a new activity or going with them to try something new. We need to commit to our financial goals as well. If we are teachers, what are committing to? Are we committing to our students, which I know you guys all do but seeing as sometimes we go through energy lags where it’s harder to do that, it’s harder to show up, sometimes it’s harder to do that preparation time. Life happens. Life throws us events that we’re not expecting and it’s really hard just to get through the basics but we really need to think about what are we committed to, how can we keep going with the most important things and how can we protect ourselves from the future.

With all the clinicians out there, same thing.  Are we showing up with planning efficiently and effectively? Do we timetable enough preparation time? Do we timetable enough buffer time between clients for preparation or for doing those extra phone calls? Because it can be really tempting, especially when you’re working for yourself or in private practice, to have those key performer indicators that we need to have because we are a business and we need to be able to meet our financial targets but we also need to look after ourselves and not try and put too many clients in, which means that we might have to work at night and lose some sleep and not look after ourselves quite as much. Whether you are a teacher or a clinician, it’s really important to have a plan and to get that locked in as soon as you can so that you can make sure that you’re supported, especially professionally because when we support it professionally, then our personal lives can go a lot easier because we’re not taking that baggage, that thinking through from … taking it home from work and just mulling over it or worrying about things.

So, yes. Whether you’re a teacher and you have those structures inside your school, that you have supervisors or mentors that you can catch up with regularly or a trusted teacher to offload to and work through things that might come up or different difficult students that might be tricky, make sure you got that structure in place and book it in your diary straight away. And if you’re an OT or a speech or other health professional, same thing. Make sure you got someone on your team, especially if you are in your own business on your own and/or if you are in a rural area where you have less support.

If you would like to connect with me, I also offer supervisor mentoring mainly for occupational therapists but also for some teachers who would really like to get their skills up in setting up their classrooms from a sensory safe perspective. But yes, so I mainly do that supervisor and mentoring for occupational therapists and I do that remotely right around Australia, so it doesn’t matter where you are. I have clinicians who are in the cities and I have clinicians who are in rural areas.  When we’re working on our own, no matter where we are, there’s very common issues and I’m very happy to talk over clinical issues, self-care issues and also a bit about business management and some tips of where to go to for help or how to make things easier.
Anyway,  I have three or four spots left for this year. If you’d like to book in for a free 15 minute chat, you’re most welcome to but no matter what type of professional you are, make sure you have a plan for both personal, healthy fitness and fun time, but also for that professional mentoring and backup. And on a regular basis, I have some clinicians who are catching up weekly, some who are monthly and some who are once a term.

If you would like to connect with me for a free 15 minute chat, just click here on the link below and we will be in contact with you to arrange a time. Okay, have a great day. Bye!

Link to : Free 15-minute chat with Deb Hopper
Written by Deb Hopper, Occupational Therapist