The Eighth Practice: Self-Care — The Key to Sustaining Real Growth

The Eighth Practice: Self-Care — The Key to Sustaining Real Growth 

What if growth is not just about how much you can push, but how well you care for yourself along the way?

In this final episode of Season 1 of The Growth Practice, we explore self-care as an essential part of sustainable growth. You can be doing everything right, showing up, staying committed, and pushing forward, and still feel exhausted.

This episode reframes self-care not as a reward, but as a requirement.

Ruth explores how chronic stress impacts your ability to think, feel, and function, introduces the concept of allostatic load, and highlights why recovery is necessary for growth to continue. Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, and lived experience, this episode also reflects on the natural pull toward rest and the restorative effects of nature.

Rather than waiting until you are depleted, this practice invites you to care for yourself consistently, in small and meaningful ways.

In This Episode, You’ll Explore:

• Why self-care is essential for sustainable growth
•  How chronic stress affects your mental and emotional capacity
•  What allostatic load means and how it impacts your body
•  Why small moments of care can regulate your nervous system
•  How nature can support restoration and mental clarity

If you have been pushing, striving, or carrying more than you realize, this is your invitation to pause.

You do not have to lose yourself to grow.

We are capable, so let’s grow together.

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. The content reflects personal experiences and perspectives. Please consult a qualified professional for guidance related to your individual situation.

References

McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840(1), 33–44.

McEwen, B. S., & Wingfield, J. C. (2003). The concept of allostasis in biology and biomedicine. Hormones and Behavior, 43(1), 2–15.

Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why zebras do not get ulcers (3rd ed.). Holt Paperbacks.

Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169–182.

Bratman, G. N., et al. (2019). Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Science Advances, 5(7), eaax0903.

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Your support helps this space grow. Every listen and share truly matters.
Thank you for practicing growth with me.  💛🌿 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello, achievers! If you're joining us for the first time, or if you've been practicing growth alongside me in previous episodes, welcome to the Growth Practice, a space where capable minds come together. I'm Ruth your host, and I'm really glad you're here. Today we're stepping into the final practice of this season. And before we do, I want to pause and honor something. If you've been here, even for just one episode, you've already done something meaningful. You chose to slow down in a world that never stops rushing. You stepped off autopilot and took a real look at your life. You examined your patterns, your choices, your growth with honesty and intention. And that takes real courage. Because real growth isn't just about picking up new skills or knowledge. It's about being willing to see yourself clearly, the beautiful parts and the hard ones, to stretch into discomfort instead of running from it, to keep showing up, especially when every part of you wants to walk away. And if you've been practicing that in any way, that matters more than you know. But here's what I've come to realize, and maybe you felt this too. You can be doing all the right things. You can be growing, reflecting, and showing up with everything you have, and still feel exhausted, still feel stretched thin, still feel like you're carrying the weight of everything all at once. And that is why we need this final practice. Let me ask you something. In the middle of all the work you've been doing, all the progress you've been chasing, all the weight you've been carrying, have you actually been taking care of yourself? Not just pushing through, not just staying committed, not just checking the boxes, but genuinely caring for yourself along the way. Because here's the hard truth. You can be deeply committed to your growth and still be neglecting yourself in the process. And for most of us, that neglect is almost invisible. It looks like being the responsible one, it looks like being the person everyone can count on. It looks like showing up for everyone except yourself. But underneath that, there's a quiet, steady exhaustion, there's depletion, there's a version of you that has been pouring out with no one pouring back in. And eventually the cup runs empty. So let's talk about self-care. Because somewhere along the way, self-care got reduced to something small, something occasional, something you squeeze in after you've taken care of everyone and everything else. A break, a reward, a moment you have to earn. But here's what I want you to understand. Real self-care is not a reward you earn, it's something you require. Think about everything we've explored together this season. Awareness, intention, commitment, discomfort. Every single one of those things takes energy. They take emotional capacity, they take mental clarity, they take presence. And none of it, not one bit, is sustainable if you're constantly running on empty. Self-care is not the opposite of growth. It's not a detour from it. It's the very thing that allows growth to continue. And here's what makes this even more powerful. Science backs this up. When we're under constant stress, constantly pushing, constantly giving, never truly switching off, our body gets locked into what's known as a stress response. Now, that response exists for a reason. It's actually brilliant in short bursts. It sharpens your focus, keeps you alert, and helps you rise to challenges. But your body was never designed to live there. Research in psychology and neuroscience is clear. When stress becomes chronic, it quietly erodes how we think, how we feel, and how we show up. It becomes harder to focus, harder to regulate your emotions, harder to make clear, intentional decisions. There's a concept in stress research I want you to know about. It's called allostatic load, and it describes the cumulative wear and tear on your body when stress piles up without enough recovery. And when that load gets too heavy, you don't just feel tired, you feel like a completely different person. You start to feel depleted, you start to lose the very capacity that growth demands. So even when every instinct tells you to push harder, do more, keep going, your body is quietly, desperately asking for something different. It's asking for rest, it's asking for care, because without it, growth becomes unsustainable. So let's get clear on what self-care actually means. We're not talking about something you add on when life gets easier. We're talking about the things that help your system reset, the things that pull you out of survival mode and back into place where you can think clearly, feel grounded, and function well. And self-care isn't just rest. Rest is part of it and it's important, but self-care is also setting boundaries when something is too much, giving yourself space to process instead of pushing everything down, paying attention to what drains you and what actually restores you. It's the voice you use with yourself on the days when nothing feels like enough. It's giving yourself permission to pause without guilt, without apology. It's choosing not to abandon yourself while you're trying to become a better version of yourself. Because growth that comes at the cost of yourself is not growth at all. And the good news is this doesn't have to be complicated. Research shows that even small, consistent actions can help regulate your nervous system and reduce stress. Things like slowing your breathing, which signals safety to your body, taking short breaks, which improves focus and reduces mental fatigue, getting enough sleep, which restores your cognitive and emotional capacity, setting boundaries, which protects your energy and reduces long term stress. These aren't luxuries, they are the foundation your mind and body are asking for. Not just to keep going, but to keep growing. And for me, self care doesn't always look the same. Sometimes it is the small things we talked about, taking a breath, stepping away, giving myself a moment to reset. But other times something deeper calls, a pull that words almost don't do justice, a need to step outside and just breathe, to feel the air on my skin, to notice the breeze moving through the trees, to hear the birds or the quiet steady rhythm of crickets at night, to exist somewhere that asks nothing of me. And for a long time I didn't analyze it, I just knew when I listened to that pool, something in me settled. And it turns out there's real science behind that feeling. Research shows that spending time in nature can reduce stress, improve mood, and help restore mental clarity. There's even a concept in psychology called attention restoration theory, which explains how natural environments give your overworked mind the space to genuinely recover. And honestly, it makes complete sense. Nature doesn't demand anything from you. It doesn't rush you, it doesn't judge you, it doesn't overwhelm you, it just holds space for you to be. And in that stillness, your body remembers how to relax. Your mind finds its way back to quiet, your system starts to reset. So the next time you feel that pull to step outside, to get fresh air, to disconnect for a moment, that's not random. That is your body, wise, honest, and exhausted, telling you exactly what it needs, and listening to it, that's self-care. So for this week, I want to introduce you to a simple practice. I call it the next right thing. At any point in your day, just pause and check in with yourself. Ask, how do I feel right now? And then gently ask, what do I need? Not what's on your to-do list, not what someone else is waiting for, just what you need. And then come back to this question, what's the next right thing? Not everything at once, not the whole plan, just the next small step, and then gently follow it. Because self-care isn't about doing everything perfectly, it's about learning how to respond to yourself in real time, one small choice at a time. So as we come to the end of this season, I want to leave you with this. Growth is not something you rush, it's not something you force, it's something you practice slowly, intentionally, and with care. And if there's one thing I hope you take with you from everything we've explored together, it's that you don't have to lose yourself to become a better version of yourself. You're allowed to grow and rest, to show up and step back, to keep going and to pause when you need to. And when it feels like too much, just come back to the next right thing. Because taking care of yourself is not falling behind. It's what allows you to keep going in a way that actually lasts. So for now, we're going to pause here, not because the work is done, but because growth also needs space. Space to breathe, space to settle, space to integrate everything you've been practicing. And I want to honor that for you and for myself. Thank you for being here, for listening, for reflecting, for showing up for yourself and whatever way you could. That matters more than you know. And remember, you're not alone. I'm walking this path right alongside you. We are capable. This is a growth practice. Let's grow.