You have blown me out of the water yet again with this post. Thank you. Thank you. "Self Care is the work." I start in fits and bursts. I do it for a while then I fall off track with the "doing goal" of getting back on track. Yet, that nagging feeling in my body is alive and well - "If you don't do it now, when? You are getting older. Don't let a health crisis force you to prioritize yourself." Yes, self-care is the work. Thank you.
Ouch. 🥴 And amen. Or, as the kids might say, “if conviction was a newsletter post.” I will do better at remembering that “self-care is the work.” Thank you!
With tears in my eyes, I thank you, Dr. C for your vulnerability and your example. I was up early this morning, about to get a giant post-it, to write ALL that I had to do. I have made doing apart of my being, and really being is what I should be doing. THANK YOU!
Good word, Dr. C.. Just got back from CCDA conference, where I have now focused on creating contemplative spaces. Yet, so many simply do not even know what that is! Epigenetics, evangelicalism + economic burdens seem to strangle a posture of “sitting” + centering discernment.
Yes, Dr. And I remain because it is my only tribe that has gifted me the ability to deconstruct my brainstem-ingrained, socially-constructed "white-churched" ways, which have never been about equity or justice. So, when I do find favor with my POC leaders, I craft circle spaces to "sit + listen" to all voices, as these listening spaces just seem to create an inner healing that top-down teaching and "dysfunctional doing" cannot touch.
I'm still struggling with my morning routine, what to leave out and what to shorten. My issue is that I want to do too many things at once and am learning that being a multitasker is not such a good thing, after-all. Thanks for helping me to put things in perspective about undoing.
As I told my students last week, multitasking isn’t really possible. What’s happening when we multitask is our brain is rapidly switching back and forth between tasks.
Thank you for this! I feel it deeply in my bones as a fellow daughter of incredible do-ers. Perhaps their legacy is that they did so I can not do. But breaking this pattern is hard work.
The abrupt onset of a very rare disease that almost killed me and caused me to be on medical disability for several years taught me the same lesson. Some years ago, I read, “prayer is the work,” which is definitely part of my morning self-care routine.
"The real secret to success in higher education is knowing how to sit your butt in the seat and stay there until the work is done (incidentally, this is also the secret to being a writer). You sit through hunger, through pain, and through boredom. You sit when your friends and family are having fun. You become such an expert at sitting that you have favorite places to do it – the places in coffee shops or libraries where you can charge your devices, leave your stuff unattended when you need to go to the bathroom, and eat the snacks that you’ve stuffed into your backpack."
Gosh, this takes me back to my high school days memorizing Scripture for Bible Bowl and my med school days memorizing and studying and studying and memorizing some more.
Self care is the work. I’ve been trying to put this into words for so long. People preach rest and self care as if the work isn’t how I got here. Sometimes rest feels a privledge that needs to be earned. I’m learning too self care is the work. I’ve taught myself that if I don’t give it my all then it’s not work my time. Clearly I needed this. This was a word ❤️
Self care is the work. Thank you Dr. Chanequa for reminding me of that because I have gradually been getting away from it on some days and that is not good for me or the work I’m here to do and the work I need to do to do that.
Let the church say, "Amen"! I, too, am learning to stretch out onto and trust the net that invites me to "be still, and know that I am God" and to "rest like its warfare." Thanks for leaving bread and light along the path for fellow sojourners. Ashe~
This gave me Pause. I've learned the Power of Pause through teachings at a Philosophy school in NYC. Taking a moment to step back, letting what I just experienced, or am about to experience marinate all over and through me. Self-Care is "doing" at "Being"; a profound Philosophy. Thank you for your Wise Words to remind me that which is important.
Thank you for the reminder that self-care is the work. I am learning to become undone. The discipline of self care is an ongoing process for me. Thank you for the gentle nudge!
You have blown me out of the water yet again with this post. Thank you. Thank you. "Self Care is the work." I start in fits and bursts. I do it for a while then I fall off track with the "doing goal" of getting back on track. Yet, that nagging feeling in my body is alive and well - "If you don't do it now, when? You are getting older. Don't let a health crisis force you to prioritize yourself." Yes, self-care is the work. Thank you.
Thank you, sis!
Ouch. 🥴 And amen. Or, as the kids might say, “if conviction was a newsletter post.” I will do better at remembering that “self-care is the work.” Thank you!
Thank you for reading!
With tears in my eyes, I thank you, Dr. C for your vulnerability and your example. I was up early this morning, about to get a giant post-it, to write ALL that I had to do. I have made doing apart of my being, and really being is what I should be doing. THANK YOU!
This is me all the time. I stay making lists on post its! That is a whole word being is what I should be doing!
I love me some lists!
Yes! Me too!
I know that feeling all too well.
Dr. C, you are incredible.
Your name is beautiful 😍
As is yours 😘
❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for sharing these words.
Good word, Dr. C.. Just got back from CCDA conference, where I have now focused on creating contemplative spaces. Yet, so many simply do not even know what that is! Epigenetics, evangelicalism + economic burdens seem to strangle a posture of “sitting” + centering discernment.
Evangelicals are big on doing. It’s especially a hazard for the CCDA crowd.
Yes, Dr. And I remain because it is my only tribe that has gifted me the ability to deconstruct my brainstem-ingrained, socially-constructed "white-churched" ways, which have never been about equity or justice. So, when I do find favor with my POC leaders, I craft circle spaces to "sit + listen" to all voices, as these listening spaces just seem to create an inner healing that top-down teaching and "dysfunctional doing" cannot touch.
I'm still struggling with my morning routine, what to leave out and what to shorten. My issue is that I want to do too many things at once and am learning that being a multitasker is not such a good thing, after-all. Thanks for helping me to put things in perspective about undoing.
As I told my students last week, multitasking isn’t really possible. What’s happening when we multitask is our brain is rapidly switching back and forth between tasks.
Thank you for this! I feel it deeply in my bones as a fellow daughter of incredible do-ers. Perhaps their legacy is that they did so I can not do. But breaking this pattern is hard work.
Very hard!
The abrupt onset of a very rare disease that almost killed me and caused me to be on medical disability for several years taught me the same lesson. Some years ago, I read, “prayer is the work,” which is definitely part of my morning self-care routine.
"The real secret to success in higher education is knowing how to sit your butt in the seat and stay there until the work is done (incidentally, this is also the secret to being a writer). You sit through hunger, through pain, and through boredom. You sit when your friends and family are having fun. You become such an expert at sitting that you have favorite places to do it – the places in coffee shops or libraries where you can charge your devices, leave your stuff unattended when you need to go to the bathroom, and eat the snacks that you’ve stuffed into your backpack."
Gosh, this takes me back to my high school days memorizing Scripture for Bible Bowl and my med school days memorizing and studying and studying and memorizing some more.
Self care is the work. I’ve been trying to put this into words for so long. People preach rest and self care as if the work isn’t how I got here. Sometimes rest feels a privledge that needs to be earned. I’m learning too self care is the work. I’ve taught myself that if I don’t give it my all then it’s not work my time. Clearly I needed this. This was a word ❤️
Thank you!
Whew. Thank you so much for the gentle reminder. I like that phrase. I need to work on becoming undone and unraveling too.
Self care is the work. Thank you Dr. Chanequa for reminding me of that because I have gradually been getting away from it on some days and that is not good for me or the work I’m here to do and the work I need to do to do that.
Let the church say, "Amen"! I, too, am learning to stretch out onto and trust the net that invites me to "be still, and know that I am God" and to "rest like its warfare." Thanks for leaving bread and light along the path for fellow sojourners. Ashe~
This gave me Pause. I've learned the Power of Pause through teachings at a Philosophy school in NYC. Taking a moment to step back, letting what I just experienced, or am about to experience marinate all over and through me. Self-Care is "doing" at "Being"; a profound Philosophy. Thank you for your Wise Words to remind me that which is important.
Thank you for the reminder that self-care is the work. I am learning to become undone. The discipline of self care is an ongoing process for me. Thank you for the gentle nudge!