Wellness Wednesday Weekly

Wellness Wednesday Weekly

Volume 2 Issue 5
Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Self-Aware=Self-Care

Greetings UWCEA Community,

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ~ Dr. Maya Angelou

Settling into the new school year, we have seen students (and adults) begin to find their groove, and starting to create routines that allow them to feel successful. We have also noticed that some people are not necessarily feeling comfortable yet, or are not really sure how to navigate being back in the school setting after being away for so long. Although it feels good for some to be back around others, they are losing a sense of themselves in the process.

The journey to a healthy self is through better understanding of who you are and what you need to thrive through life. It is very difficult to care for yourself if you do not have a clear sense of who you are and what you need to be successful at any given time. For many, the pandemic and quarantine led to a lot of alone time, but not necessarily time to become more self-aware and in tune with what you need.

One question we find that is difficult for some people to answer is, “Do you know what you need?” Another similar question is, “Do you like spending time with yourself?” For some people, the answer to both questions depends on when you ask it, or it is a clear “No” because they have not learned how enjoy a journey of self-discovery or focused time alone. Learning how to spend time alone, without distractions, and become more in tune with who you are can go a long way to helping you become more aware of how you understand the needs of others.

A key way to do this is to establish clear boundaries around your time and space. Not in a selfish or mean way, but in a way that leads to self-preservation while teaching others how to treat you with respect and compassion. We will delve more into the importance of establishing clear boundaries at a later time, but for now, we ask you to think about whether or not you have established any boundaries in your life, and how you maintain them in order to create time for self-care.

When you create that time for yourself, we encourage you to incorporate an element of fun into your daily self-care routines. Here is a BINGO card created by AANMC that creates a visual reminder of some of the key things that we sometimes forget in our self-care routine. We also hope you have taken a moment to review the September Self-Care Calendar (and other resources) in the COVID-19 Counselor Resources Guide.

We continue to encourage everyone to utilize the resources that exist in order to explore ways to meet their needs as you take time to determine what they are. In addition, we welcome you to spend some time exploring this great self-care guide that was produced University of Waterloo and is an excellent visual of the essential elements we strive to reinforce.

Take some time to get to know yourself better as you continue to do better by yourself this week. We still have a long journey ahead this year, and we want everyone to be able to do/be their best along the way.

Stay well and persevere,

Your UWCEA Wellbeing Committee