We all know what stress feels like - the tight jaw, the racing heartbeat, the spinning thoughts. We've all probably experienced the side effects - insomnia, headaches, or fatigue, just to mention a few. But out stress doesn't just effect us. It impacts the time we spend with our children and it also impacts our children. In this episode:

• How to recognize the signs of stress in both you and your kids.
• A simple tip to help calm your kids, especially at the witching hour
• Why you need to prioritize downtime
• Anna's 4-step practice to reduce stress and keep it under control.
• Anna's challenge to begin to reduce stress in your life starting today.

Show notes for Episode 27

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Stay-at-home moms who are also introverts face a particular challenge - it can be extremely hard to find any quiet when you live with young kids - and we need quiet. If you find yourself often thinking "I wish my kids would just be quiet, stop talking to me, and stop touching me," you may be struggling with a need for extra introvert-specific self-care. In this episode, I share a bit of my own story, finding my way as an introvert and a stay-at-home mother. I also offer a few suggestions for ways that introvert moms can better care for themselves and be more calm, recharged and focused by practicing self-care that gets right at the need for quiet and alone time (even if you have really little kids). In this episode:

• what is an introvert and why at-home mothering hard on this personality
• how to learn your own signals for needing a quiet break
• five introvert-specific self-care ideas that you can apply now

Show notes for Episode 26

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My guest this week, Mary Baird-Wilcock of the Simplifiers Podcast, did an experiment with her social media business channels in July. She stopped using them, all but Instagram. What she discovered from this experiment, was that in being really intentional with how and where she spent her time on social media, she had deeper, more personal connections, both on and off-line (and spoiler: her business did not tank).

What you'll hear in this show:

• Tips for simplifying every social media platform
• Why you should share some of your personal life online
• How to decide how much to share about your kids on social media
• One simple tip to make Facebook a happier place to hang out
• How to choose which social media platforms to be active on

Show notes for Episode 25

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As we settle into back-to-school season, I'm struggling in the morning. I'm struggling to get up on time, to get us both fed, to not yell in frustration, and to get us to school on time (I'll admit here that I'm flat out failing on that one). Are you struggling, too? This episode will help. This week I dive into morning routines - why you need one and how to go about creating one. What you'll get from this episode

• why you might want a morning routine and why having routine is important
• an easy way to develop a customized morning routine
• why your morning routine might need to start at night
• tips for gentler mornings

Show notes for Episode 24

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This week I continue the conversation with Brodie Welch about why self-care is not selfish. If you haven't listened to Episode 22, jump back and listen to that before you start this one! In this conversation, you'll hear:

• The deep value of learning in community, and also recognizing that you are a unique individual.
• How being honest about your struggles gives other permission to get real, too.
• Why self-care is a feminist issue.
• What Qi Gong is, and why you need to check it out.
• Brodie's self care practice of doing less

Show notes for Episode 23

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In over 13 years of clinical practice, Brodie Welch has seen that the people who are willing to move differently, breathe differently, eat differently, interpret life differently, and make time for self-care are the people who really end up feeling dramatically different: healthy, confident, joyful, and free.

This week, Brodie speaks to me about why we need to prioritize our own self care, and how putting our own selves on our to-do lists can lead to vibrant, joyful and healthy lives.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Why you need to listen to your body closely, and learn to recognize the subtle signs of imbalance.
• The 5 basic core competencies of self care that will keep you healthy in body and mind.
• Why you need to hang out with people who have already made the changes you want to make in your life.
• Why boundaries are an act of kindness and why you need to model them for your kids.
• What we can do to counteract our cultural yong addiction, and why we need to.

Show notes for Episode 22

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In this episode I get personal about how I've been tending to myself in my recent hard season; what's working for me, where I've set boundaries, what I do to nourish myself. I hope you will hear some ideas here that you can implement in your own life. Ideas that make you think, "Huh, I hadn't thought of that as self-care!" But it is. It totally is. And the effects will last a lot longer than a smoothie, too. What you'll find in this episode:

• the secret to how I menu-plan
• how I'm building my village
• questions to ask yourself to find out what you really need
• ideas about how to build your own super personalized self-care practice

Show notes for Episode 21

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This is the power of telling our true stories, and this is much of what I talk to my guest Kristin Tweedale about this week. Kristin is better known as rukristin on the web, where she is known as a feminist scrapbooker, author of 100 Days Of All About Me, and founder of the Awesome Ladies Project and the Crafty Ass Female podcast. Kristin knows that the authenticity that comes from telling our real, everyday stories is a kind of self-care, and that it can build connections and community, two things she feels really strongly about. You can tell your stories with pictures and pretty paper (and we talk about that more, too) or you can tell your stories in some other medium. But please, tell them.

In this episode you'll hear:

• How sharing our stories can bring us together with other people and why we need to tell the hard stories, too.
• Kristin's struggle with complex headache disorders and how this has helped her focus on her own self-care.
• How she runs a successful business in only 3-4 hours a day.
• A whole different way to think about how and why to take selfies.
• Why rainbow sticky notes from Get To Work Book help Kristin to plan her day so that her to-do list is manageable
• And, as a bonus, we both got up on our soap box about how important it is to advocate for yourself with your doctor, especially when you have a chronic illness

Show notes for Episode 20

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My guest on the show this week is Christy Tending. Christy is a self-care mentor, activist, writer, and mama who helps rebellious humans become fierce self-advocates and cultivate spirited (and spiritual) lives. She's been a social justice activist for nearly 20 years, and continues to engage with climate justice and Indigenous rights activism. She's also a mom of a one-year-old.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Christy's story of reaching complete flame-out as an activist, and how she recovered.
• How to make your self care really personalized, especially if the self-care practices you've been trying just don't feel that great.
• How to be an advocate for yourself.
• How to break out of the perfect mom vs. hot mess mom molds (and just be the imperfect and amazing mom that you already are).
• How to adjust when the self care that was working for you before suddenly isn't (this one is for you, new moms!)

Show notes for Episode 19

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In this week's episode of Nurturing Habit, I talked with Caryn Gillen. Caryn is a weight loss coach for powerhouse women who are ready to end the struggle with food and their weight. But why I really invited her to talk with me for this series on self care is because what she teaches about so much MORE than food and weight. It is about how you can transform yourself into the person you want to be, and let the changes that feel so hard just happen naturally.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How you can learn to support yourself growing and changing with the same skills that you use to parent your growing children.
• How to live in contentment with where you are right now.
• How building an intimate relationship between you and your body can change your relationship with food.
• Why losing weight - or making any big change - isn't as easy as just deciding to do it.
• How asking yourself better questions allows your creative mind an opportunity to solve hard problems for you.
• A peek into how Caryn structures her business around life with her 3 year old.
• Why paying attention when you feel jealous can be really valuable.

Episode 18 show notes

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