#11: Happiest Pod dives in on self-care and the different ways we use Disney mediums to incorporate it into our everyday lives. We define self-care and give examples for children, adults, and families.

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Ariel Landrum (00:05):

*Bells and intro music* Hello everyone. Welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista (00:13):

and I’m Stephanie.

Ariel Landrum (00:14):

and we’re Disney fans, but we’re really so much more than that.

Stefanie Bautista (00:18):

I’m an educator.

Ariel Landrum (00:19):

I’m a licensed therapist and together this place is where we discuss

Stefanie Bautista (00:26):

And dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum (00:29):

So I’m curious stuff. What are we breaking down today?

Stefanie Bautista (00:33):

Well, today we are breaking down self-care and Disney and mainly the ways that we use different Disney, um, forms of media to help us get through our everyday lives, um, help us get through everyday routines and how we can maybe give you guys some tips to use in your everyday lives and, you know, kind of connect in that way, because I feel that sometimes we use Disney as a form of just self-care and, you know, ways to just make us happy and grounded again. Would you agree?

Ariel Landrum (01:00):

I agree. Absolutely. I think, um, I think it’s important that we clear up a common misconception when it comes to self-care. Um, a lot of people, particularly, even my clients, my friends and my family, when they hear self-care, they make it synonymous with being self-indulgent or being selfish. Um, I don’t know. Does that, does that sound similar to the way that you’ve heard it represented?

Stefanie Bautista (01:24):

And I think self-care is one of those things that they preach in our professional developments at the school, but it’s also like, yeah, I would love to practice self-care, but can I even carve out time in my day and my week, seeing how busy we are with our schedules, with our students, with our home. Like, I feel like there is a level of privilege when it comes to being able to do self-care, quote unquote for yourself, because we think of getting a pedicure, getting a manicure, going to get a massage, those things take money and time and some things we just don’t have those things.

Ariel Landrum (01:59):

Yes. So that’s why I think like one of the things we want to challenge is this idea of self-care and how it’s been portrayed in mainstream. And even you bring up in professional development, like they scream self-care, but nobody actually defines it. Nobody actually says what it is and you can look up the word self and you can look up the word care and sort of cobble something together. Um, but essentially, uh, to give everyone a, a definition or at least the definition we’re going to use in this show is that self-care is a conscious act. It’s doing something to establish and maintain specific pillars of wellbeing that prevent illness or deterioration. Um, and these pillars may be different for everyone. Um, but the common pillars that at least I see in my practice are hygiene, lifestyle, nutrition, environment, medical care, mental care, and even cultural connection. I find that when we touch those different pillars in my clients’ lives, they are able to maintain mental wellness and, and even, um, their symptoms from becoming a mental health disorder or at least get reprieved from a current one.

Stefanie Bautista (03:05):

Yeah. I totally hear that. And when we break it down like that, talking about hygiene, nutrition environment, just putting yourself in these places that don’t really cost too much money, like remember to brush your teeth every day or remember to take a shower. When, you know, you just don’t feel like, you know, your yourself, like those little things could be self-care, it doesn’t have to be getting a make-over, it doesn’t have to be changing up your whole entire look. It could just make sure that you are healthy and living every single day. Not, not feeling like you’re falling or failing, um, the cultural connection to me, that’s something that I didn’t know about. And I think that really speaks volumes, especially when connecting as a second generation immigrant like me, like I, my parents came to this country and, you know, we were assimilated very, very quickly into American lifestyle. So every time I get to connect with my culture, it revitalizes me. And, you know, if you guys can agree with that, there’s just, it kind of, you can’t really explain it. Um, when you hear something that you resonate with with your culture. And I think that’s like a great way of defining self-care that makes it a lot more accessible to everyone.

Ariel Landrum (04:19):

Accessible and, and even considering it a practical maintenance, like there’s a difference between, you know, getting your car washed and then getting your car regular tune-up right. Like we know when we’re supposed to change oil, we know when we’re supposed to put gas in it, some of us will push the car till E, um, how, how often do ...