Your Self-Care, Simplified
This Friday is going to be glorious! On Friday I’m opening the first ever spots for my Self-Care Curator Intensives.
What the heck is that? I’m glad you asked!
The Self-Care Curator Intensive was created to help simplify your self-care.
So many people feel like if they just had some sort of plan, something to follow to, something laid out in front of them that told them HOW to self-care, they could do it.
That’s why so many of the products and companies that lean into the commodification of self-care are presented as being able to do so.
Here’s the thing - no one can tell you WHAT your self-care should look like, and because of that, they can’t tell you HOW to implement your self-care in a simple and effective way.
The Self-Care Curation process, however, works to do both.
The Plan
The biggest part of the Curation process is the Curation Call. This is a 90-minute conversation in which you tell me everything - and I do mean everything - about your self-care. Your goals, what you’ve tried, what’s worked, what hasn't, what makes you feel the best, what makes you feel the worst, how you’d like to feel, and on and on.
I then take all of this information and put it together into a 90-Day Self-Care Plan. The plan is what we’re going to talk about today. What it looks like, what it includes, why it includes those things.
After I get your plan back to you, we meet to make sure it makes sense to you, we tweak it if it needs tweaking, and then you go do the thing. There are 2 check-in calls for you to use whenever you want within get 90 days, and a wrap-up call at the end of it. You’ll also have my full support via private messaging access the whole time.
So what does this plan look like? What’s included? Why is that thing included? Why is any of this important?
Walk Through a “Real” Plan
I am going to walk you through all of it, using a plan I created with Daphne the Self-Care Dog that reflects what her plan may have looked like when she first came to our home in 2019. 😄
Obviously, just like with your self-care plan, some of these things have become a permanent part of her daily life. Some of this has gone by the wayside. You’ll find the same thing.
Some things are really important at certain times in your life, and then you don’t focus on them as much. Some things become so important that you continue to do them forever.
One last thing about the plan before we get into it: All 90-day Self-Care Curator Plans are created in a free app called Notion.
Why? There are two reasons.
Firstly, you can access it on any computer, cell phone or tablet, so it’s always at hand. It’s a one-click stop that empowers you to prioritize your self-care every day, and have it front and center at the click of a button.
Secondly, anything in notion can be exported to a PDF and printed, so if you’re a pen and paper person, you have that option.
Keep that in mind as we head into the breakdown of the different sections.
Sections
How You Want to Feel
What It Is: This is a short, concise, usually more general statement about how you want to regularly feel. It can be focused on the 90-day period, or it can be a way you want to learn to feel going forward.
Why It’s Important: This is your North Star when it comes to your self-care during the 90-days you plan to work on it, and frankly, should ALWAYS be your North Star when you’re working to take care of yourself. Every time you decide to do something you should ask yourself, is this going to help me feel ________________?
There can be a TON of nuance to that, and that’s something that I help break down while we’re talking. For example, you might say you want to feel, safe, successful, and happy.
On occasion though, you may need to feel a little unsafe or uncomfortable to reach the next level of success, or you may feel unhappy because of the uncertainty that surrounds you working toward the next promotion or growth metric or sales goal. So! That will all be talked through.
Your 90-Day Mantra
What It Is: This is a very specific affirmation I will help you create to recenter yourself and remind yourself of the reasons you are taking care of yourself in the first place. Something as simple as “I am worthy of care” can be incredibly powerful if you’ve never prioritized self-care before.
Why It’s Important: You know that song, “Mama Said’ by the Shirelles? “Mama said there’d be days like this...there’d be days like this, my mama said.”
Well, friend, Ali said there’d be days like this! 😉
There will be days that you are frustrated and want to tell self-care where to go.
Those are the days that your mantra and your support network and remembering why you’re doing this is going to be incredibly important.
Intention Tracker
What It Is: Much like the traditional habit trackers you’ve probably seen, an intention tracker lets you make note of the times you did the things you are trying to do regularly, and when you didn’t do the things that you are trying to not continue doing.
Why It’s Important: Being intentional means choosing what you want to do in life and what you don’t want to do, and the intention tracker allows you to make those choices and then track how well you’re able to stick to them.
There is no judgment when you check off a day or don’t check off a day, because progress is the name of the game.
If there is one thing, though, that you are just having the HARDEST time doing or not doing, seeing that on your intention tracker will allow you (and me as I support you) to evaluate if that’s something that you really need or want to focus on at the moment.
Bookmarks
What It Is: A page with several important website links, and some other helpful resources
Why It’s Important: When I work to put together your plan, there may be a particular website or article or resource I feel would be especially useful for you.
I will add it to this page so that you don’t have to worry about trying to bookmark or scrolling through messages to find it, etc.
This page will also always include the following: a link to your online client file, a link to my scheduling page so you can easily schedule your check-in calls, a link to my website for reference, and a list of my favorite self-care books, with any that I think you may particularly benefit from noted.
You can also add your own bookmarks to this page, and build your own little self-care resource library.
Daily Notes and Gratitude
What It Is: A place to log your thoughts, observations, and feelings, and note 3 things you’re grateful for every day.
Why It’s Important: Throughout the 90 days that you are focused on your self-care, you have to remain a staunch observer of everything. How you feel, what’s working, what’s not working, why something is or isn’t easy to implement, your physical health, etc.
The notes and gratitude section allows you to put down all your observations so that you can use it to learn more about yourself.
It also asks you to write down 3 things you’re grateful for every day so that you can get into a habit of realizing that even when everything is total shit, you can find a couple things to be grateful for (even if that thing is, “I get to go to bed now.”) 😉
This also keeps you from leaning into a negativity spiral that can derail you from seeing progress.
Daily Non-Negotiables
What It Is: Three things that you want to make sure happen every single day.
Why It’s Important: A lot of the time, you know that just doing one or two things every day would make your day so much better, but for whatever reason, those things just don't get done.
A spot for your non-negotiables, those things that you are going to do your very best to get accomplished every single day, puts them front and center and helps you remember what a priority they are.
Having them isolated and in front of you will also help you recognize how much doing them regularly would probably help you, because my guess is you’ll look at those things and think, “gosh, that would be so great.’
It is so great, and if you get nothing else done, these three things should top the list.
Don't Forget!
What It Is: Three things that you may need to remind yourself of on the reg.
Why It’s Important: You’ve heard me say A LOT that a lot of the time we tell ourselves things that simply aren’t true. Sometimes, we have to be reminded what the truth is. For example - “I am only one person,” or maybe “I am doing my best and that’s good enough.”
This list will highlight three things that I want you to remind yourself of every day so that you recognize your own capacity and keep your expectations realistic.
Reminders from Yours Truly
What It Is: Three things I want you to remember and hear my saying in your head. Lol.
Why It’s Important: There are habits you can develop that are more detrimental than they are beneficial. If you get too stressed and don’t eat, that’s one. If you slam coffee instead of water, that’s another. If you’ve told yourself for years that you don’t deserve to care for yourself as much as others, that’s a thing, too.
These three things will be three things I think you need to remember and that you can only hear from someone else. In a nutshell, this is the “tough love” portion of your plan. 😂
Why the Self-Care Curator Intensive Works
So how does any or all of this work together to help you prioritize your self-care and make a difference when you’ve tried everything and nothing else has worked?
It works because it all comes directly out of your head and heart, and you are the secret sauce to a self-care plan that works for you.
The magic happens when your head and heart meet the expertise of someone who has been doing this for years and can help you understand how to string everything together into routine practices that make sense for YOU.
I spent a lot of years trying and dismissing and changing and tweaking the things I was doing to create self-care practices that work for me every day.
Then I started helping others do the same thing. It’s amazing how much faster you can find the right things if someone who has been where you are is there to stand next to you and help.
So, you may feel like you will never figure out a way to have workable, successful, helpful self-care practices that are easy to achieve every day. I am here to tell you that you will, and I would love to help you.
Today is the LAST day to sign up to get Early Bird Access to applications for these Intensives. Sign up here to be the first to know when applications are live!