Welcome, welcome, welcome to My Wellness to Success podcast. In this podcast we talk about health and wellness and accountability tips so that we can live our best life every day. My name is Dr. Martin Canal, and I am a health and wellness and accountability coach, and I have been a nurse for over 26 years. It is. Expert opinion and it is no way, shape, or form any medical advice. So if you feel the need to get medical help, please reach out to your own medical professional. So with that said, today's episode is about self-care for living your best life. Self-care. It is a question that I ask every day. What did you do for self-care today? It is part of my regimen and it should be part of yours too. Now, are you a woman over 40 or do you know a woman over 40 who's an overachiever, overworked, stressed out, breadwinner and not? I said not taking care of herself. Well, let me tell you, this is a consideration that should be taken seriously because living your best life, it is not an easy feat because we found ourself overworked, stressed out, and neglecting our own needs and well. so we can find ourself in a down spiral, which could have felt our health, our productivity, our independence. So that is why I make it my mission to bring awareness mostly to women over 40 because of what happened to my mom. She was in her early forties when she suffered a massive, massive stroke. She didn't see it. but overnight, her life drastically changed, if I can say the word properly. She went from a productive, independent woman to someone who needed help, needed care, and she could not even own, you know, hold her own toothbrush. It was very, very, very sad. I am on the mission, just like I said, to bring awareness so that people, mostly women over 40, can put themselves first, do some self care and serve themselves like they serve others. So I am gonna talk about strategies that could turn things around. So, these women can create a life that is fulfilling, joyful, and meaningful. And that was very concerning to me because here I am in my forties and I was overworked, stressed out. You know, working as a nurse is not an easy, easy job. And during the pandemic, that made it worse. And when I. That if I didn't change the path of living that I was going through, I would end up like my mom. You know? That just shifted my mindset, like the fear, the fear of becoming dependent and not doing what I, what I wanna do when I wanna do it. That prompted me to react and change my lifestyle in a big, big way. So the first strategy is to recognize the problem. As I said, I became aware. Awareness is the first step for you to realize that there is a problem, okay? The problem is that you overworked, stressed out, and neglecting to take care of yourself like you should. So in order for you to see it, you have to be honest with. you have to look at your current situation and decide that this is something that has to be fixed or else you may have a negative outcome. And that not only will affect you, but it will affect your family as well. So recognize a, recognizing the problem so that you can fix it is the number one step. Step number two. which is the second strategy, is prioritizing your self care. Putting yourself first before anyone else. You should care for yourself first. You should prioritize yourself, and that will help you with your physical, emotional, and mental. and what you do to prioritize yourself is setting an environment and setting a timeframe that will only be for you. And during that time, you'll engage in activities that makes you happy that you love. It could be relaxation. exercise, meditation even sometimes spending time with your loved ones, with your family. Okay? Maybe that could help you with self-care and you should make sure that you eat properly healthy foods, you get enough rest and you engage in behavior that support your, your wellbeing. I. No smoking, no drinking, heavy alcohol, not doing any kind of drugs, all of that. So you're prioritizing self-care and with that you're gonna, you know, set clear boundaries because sometimes some people, they just need you for everything to help them in their life, but that they don't see that they're draining you. So you need to set clear boundaries. because you have to protect what belongs to you and what is around you. You may have to say no to certain commitment. You may have to delegate some tasks to other people, or you may have to work specific hours, okay? So that you can have work and life integr. you have to identify your values and your goals as the next strategy. Knowing what you stand for will help you to, rather than the goals that you want to achieve, and that will lead you to creating a fulfilling and meaningful. you have got to take the time to sit down and write down what is important to you, what you value, and how you see your life, and what purpose you have for your life. Because sometime we work so much that we are just giving, giving, giving. And we're not realizing that we are not getting anything back for ourselves. So what is your sense of purpose with your life? What do you want to achieve? Identify your values and your goals. It's an important part of self-care. Managing stress is is another strategy. Life is stressful, period. The way that you manage your stress. is what's gonna help you to either sink or swim. So there are many, many stress management techniques that you can practice. Okay? Like deep breathing exercises, meditation, exercising is very good. And practicing mindfulness, all these strategies will help you to manage your stress. Level. And with that, practicing gratitude is another aspect of self-care. By focusing on positive aspect of your life, you feel happier. You'll be more content and fulfilled. You should take every day. I don't, you know, sometime I use like the morning when I first wake up, when I'm taking a shower to practice gratitude. This is a good time for me to reflect on what I'm grateful for and appreciate everything that I have and even the things that I don't have yet, but I feel like I already have because in my mind, whatever I wanna achieve, whatever I wanna. I am grateful for. So practicing this gratitude will help me and you maintain a positive outlook and feel more optimistic about our future, even though you don't have whatever that you want to possess yet, if you want that healthy, healthy life. If you wanna feel healthy, if you wanna be wealthy, if you want to be committed to a certain area of your life, be grateful for it. Feel as if you already have it, and that will give you that positive, optimistic outlook. And also you have to seek support, which is another strategy being. Like-minded people will definitely help you practice self-care because they will support you in what you do and they will give you the support that you need in terms of guidance, in terms of knowledge, in terms of any support that you may need, any motivation, encouragement, you. whatever positive help that you need amongst your own community. So seek the right community for you to thrive, and that will help you with your self-care. So I've talked about many strategies. You know, to be able to move from a state of overworked, stressed, being stressed and not taking care of yourself, you need to prioritize self-care, set clear boundaries, identify your values and your goals, manage stress to a level that will make you more productive and practice gratitude. on a daily basis and be among the community that will give you the support that you need so that you can create a life that is fulfilling, joyful, and meaningful. So remember to take small step each day and be patient with yourself, and you have to enjoy the. as well as when you get to the destination because any step that you make toward your path to wellness is guaranteeing you, li you living your best life. So I hope that you got some health and wellness tips in that. But for more health and wellness strategies, please go to martin canal.com and while you're there, get your free ebook. It has more information about self-care and how you have to live your best life and strive to help yourself, like to help yourself and serve yourself like you serve others. So, Thank you for listening to this podcast, and until next time, take care of yourself, because remember, it's all about you living your best life. This is Dr. Martine Canal, and I'll see you on the Nests episode.