25: Self Care

Welcome to season 2 of You Handled That Perfectly! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! In the spirit of the New Year, we are talking about self-care today. We are going to divide this into three sections: personal self-care, family self-care, and professional self-care. I also want to say that with the New Year, you are by no means required to do or change anything. This doesn’t mean you have to add things to your list or change how you do things (unless you want to!). We are just giving you some ideas around self-care. But self-care can also mean saying no or choosing to stay consistent with your current lifestyle if you’re happy.

Self-care could be a lot of different things. It doesn’t have to mean a bubble bath or cucumbers on your eyes. It could be something like clearing off the counter. A less cluttered space often means a less cluttered mind. And that’s self-care, too. We said this in our Priority episode, and I think it pertains here, too. Plus, I think about it a lot, and that’s, “What would help you breathe easier if it were done?” Finishing that task is self-care.

PART 1 - Personal Self-Care

Personal self-care includes: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Popular personal self-care activities: spending time with family/friends (58%), reading (55%), eating healthy (48%), exercising or walking in nature (43%).

Among young people (youth), more than 90% use self-care methods for mental health.

72% of them say they turn to music. If you need suggestions, we have a great playlist (hint, hint)! Check out our Playlist Here.

With most things, the best way to start implementing self-care into your everyday life is to start small. Micro habits are a great way to ease into self-care. 

Here are a few ideas: 

• Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning

• 1-minute breath reset

• 2-minute morning stretch 

• Compliment someone each day

• Prep 1 thing for the next morning

• Adjust your bedtime by 2 minutes earlier each night

  • For kids, if they are having trouble sleeping, try tucking them in 30 minutes earlier!

• Unsubscribe from 1 unwanted email or unfollow one account that stresses you out

• Stretch while your coffee brews

• Spend the first 10 minutes after waking up and the last 10 before sleep without your phone.

• Before falling asleep, think of 3 wins or 3 things you’re grateful for

• There was a study that showed that asking your kids about their favorite parts of their day or their wins led to better sleep, fewer nightmares, less stress, and more confidence.

Manifesting is actually best to do at night, right before you fall asleep. Your brain resets itself during your sleep cycle. I heard the phrase “manifestation sabotage” recently, and it’s when you focus on the guilt and shame right before falling asleep. Instead, think about ways you “won” or your favorite parts of the day and tell yourself that you’re lucky and things are going your way. Things work out for you. If something doesn’t, all that means is that something better is coming your way. Doing this right before sleep doesn’t allow your brain to rationalize or argue. It just accepts it. And do the same with your kids! Which brings us to our family portion.

PART 2 - Family Self-Care

Within the household, there are things like laundry, tidying, or organization, and other things that have been seen as household chores but could be reframed as self-care. Doing these things helps to calm the space around you and is therefore self-care. Forever, these have been called “chores,” which makes them feel so negative. Teaching/modeling behavior that changes the narrative here will help our children see that this is actually self-care. 

You could make self-care a family activity: walk together, cook healthy meals, and do a weekly check-in where everyone shares one thing they need or want for self-care.

It’s important to take care of our bodies and our brains. And if you think about it, things like exercise, nature walks, and eating healthy are things that are considered self-care, and do both of those things. It’s a win-win.

“There are two kinds of people when it comes to self-care: 1. Takes a bath with a face mask while reading with candles that smell like heaven. And 2. Watches documentaries about serial killers and orders their body weight in Mexican food.” — Hannah Berner

Family obligations, guilt, time scarcity. Many people feel they can’t take a break because others depend on them. But all that is doing is leading to burnout. When you care for yourself, you bring more energy, patience, and presence to your relationships. These will create a more harmonious household.

Moms don’t realize they are anxious or depressed (or burnt out), they just think they are failing. Sometimes, just asking for help around the house is self-care. I know it can feel like nagging, or you want your significant other or children to just notice and do, but sometimes it doesn’t work like that. Yes, it would be a miracle if they simply did things without us asking or without a list, but I think accepting that that may not be obtainable right now and therefore you have to ask, is a good first step. They are your PARTNER, not someone you should have to manage, but communication is a way to build a better relationship, and the more you ask for help, the less you’ll have to ask in the future. It’s essentially training.

And you can also train them to know when not to bother or ask you for anything or see that it is normal for you to take a break.

PART 3 - Professional Self-Care

Let’s get into professional self-care. These are things like setting boundaries or actually taking your lunch.

This is why we started our own businesses, right? Office hustle and regulations were hindering us, and in order for us to live our best lives, it meant moving to entrepreneurship. I suspect we’ll see a lot more mompreneurs this year. We had reported that 200K women left the workforce as of September. As of December 2025, that number more than doubled to almost 500K. ½ A MILLION women LEFT the workforce. Why? To take care of themselves or others. Unrealistic working conditions for moms are forcing a shift in the culture.

If you are in a traditional office job, here are some ways you can practice self-care at work:

• Micro-breaks (5-minute resets), taking a lunch break, going for a quick walk, use your benefits!

• Find an office friend.

• Reflect on your purpose: regularly reconnect with why you do your work — what motivates you, what gives meaning — to help maintain energy and avoid burnout.

• Reframe how you think about something.

There are some things we don’t have control over, like micro-managing bosses or really strict policies. In these cases, a reframe or an office friend can help you cope!

“I accidentally relaxed too much and now I don’t have enough anxiety to get things done.” — Jessica McCabe

Our song this week: This is our Time - WILD

Step into the open wide, watch our futures come alive, this is our time, yours and it’s mine. This is our time.

Check out our Playlist Here.

Listen now on: SPOTIFY | APPLE | AMAZON MUSIC