Hello Friends!I am so glad you are here! I want to talk for a minute about self-care. What it is, what it looks like, and how it can help you. You ever hear that adage, "You can't pour from an empty cup?" Is your next immediate thought, "Well, then what have I been doing all these years?" Yep, me too.So how do we take our crazy, overstimulating, chaotic, overly busy lives and find some time to "fill our cup?" The short answer is that most of the time, we don't. We can't count on a consistent and prolonged period of time for us to do all the big and small things that make us feel whole and happy. What we CAN do, is make small, habitual changes over time.When we start with a vision and set intentional habits and goals, self-care builds and builds and eventually we are feeling good, living right and enjoying what we are doing and who we are doing it with.And that all sounds AHMAZING, right? And totally impossible, right? I know. I know!I stumbled into self-care five years ago after a major illness forced me to reevaluate what I was doing and where I was heading.It took me almost 3 years to get a good handle on what self-care looked like for me, and how I could implement it in everyday life. There are definitely times when living in self-care mode is easier. I'm in the flow, things are working well, my health is good, I'm super intentional with my habits and my actions, and then there are times when it is extremely hard to focus on myself and my needs because of things happening around me.You can call them seasons, or rough patches, or (my personal favorite) shit shows, but whatever you call them, we all know it's harder to be mindful of your goals and needs when you're in one.In my old life ("5-year-ago Ali", I call her), I was not the person who could withstand these periods of time when things were harder. I was consistently my worst self because I could not recognize and embrace that I could not be all things to all people at all times while there was a bigger, heavier thing I needed to give my energy to at the time.Cue the flaking on my people. Cue the not taking care of myself. Cue the heightened anxiety. Cue the screaming at my people. It was not a good look.You know what will help you lean into a chaotic season? Being thrust into one in which you are almost completely dependent on other people and having a whole lot of time to think. When I finally came out of my recovery in 2013, I never wanted to have to do that again.And so I've learned to embrace the chaotic times that we all live through. And I've learned to give myself a lot of grace (maybe a little too much sometimes, if I'm telling the truth), and I've learned what really matters to me when it comes to what I want my life to look like.I want to share life with my people. I want to eat good food. I want a fitness regime I can get behind. I want to laugh and cry and be vulnerable. I want to find gratitude, day in and day out. I want to bask in the realization that I have permission to be myself.With this realization, I began crafting my self-care routine to get me to that place faster and more consistently. I began habituating my actions so that I met the criteria I set for myself. No one else got to have an opinion. It was my self-care.Years later, I can shift into self-care mode faster and easier than I ever thought I would be able to when I first started. I continually evaluate my routine, what's working, what's not, what I feel I need to prioritize, and what I can let go for now.I still find myself in times that are truly hard - the times that exhaust me and stress me out and make me cry. Today, when that happens, I lean in to a few simple ideas that keep my head above water and my mindset clear until I can refocus on my everyday routine and reclaim some normalcy.I want to share those ideas with you, and I've created a simple sheet of Self-Care Starters to do so. They are basic self-care principles you can return to again and again as you craft your self-care routine, build on an existing one, or lean into a difficult time.Remember, you have permission to be yourself! Your self-care routine is yours! See something you don't find relevant? Pitch it. Want to be more specific? Go for it. Again, these are just ideas to get you in the self-care zone. I hope you find it helpful and thought-provoking, and I hope that as you use it, your enthusiasm for self-care continues to grow. Enjoy!