Monday, I hopped on here and I did a special episode about your self-care practice for the week,
which is a new series I want to do for you guys, where I'll do a quick episode and give you an
easy self-care practice that you could add into your week. So I'm very excited about this. I do
this in all of my communities and I do this with my clients and I wanted to add an episode this week
going deeper into that, showing you how you can create space for these self-care practices.
So let's get into it.
You're listening to the SoulAlign self-care podcast. I'm your host Tina Stinson and I had a stroke
at the age of 39 from stress and burnout that shook my world. Now I'm laying it all out.
The deep-level self-care practices and mindset shifts that I needed that kept me healthy,
balanced and thriving. Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience and a
soul's journey to alignment. This is where real conversations about deep-level self-care happen.
Let's get into it.
Hello guys, welcome back to the SoulAlign self-care podcast. I'm your host Tina Stinson and I want to
welcome you and say I'm so excited that you're joining me today for this episode. As I talked about
in the intro on Monday and every Monday from now on, I'm going to be releasing a quick 10-15
minute podcast episode just sharing with you a self-care practice for the week that you could add in
easily. Today I wanted to talk about following your joy and how to add this self-care into your
daily life with ease. Creating the time and space for these self-care practices. I'm very excited
about this because I share this with all my communities and it's actually kind of fun and a
little bit exciting because most of these self-care practices that are quick and easy are really
beneficial but they're also really enjoyable. They can be a lot of fun and some of the benefits
that you'll get when you start to add self-care into your life is reduce stress. This could be really,
really, really beneficial for stress and even anxiety. Improved physical health, such as exercise,
eating well, adequate sleep, just overall improving your health. Enhanced mental well-being.
Actually, anytime you're reducing stress and anxiety, it's going to enhance your mental well-being.
Increased productivity. Taking time for your self-care helps you recharge your mind and your body.
When we're not stressed and exhausted, we're able to do things better. Better relationships.
When you take care of yourself and you put yourself first, you're better equipped to show up fully
for others in your life. Think about it. Self-care is not selfish because when you do good for yourself,
you could do good for others. It's so important. I would say it's worth it overall. If we're going to
rate self-care, I would rate it in 11. It's very, very worth it. I want to share with you today a trick.
To help you bring more self-care into your life and create the space for it. A lot of people say
that they just don't have the time for self-care. I don't have the time. I could completely relate to this
because years and years ago, I was a single mom with three kids. I still have three kids, but they're
full-grown, responsible adults now, the most wonderful people I know. And I know what it's like to have
literally no time. But when I was in the this depth of my no-time life, I still exercised and I still
did a lot of things for myself. Now, I didn't do all the right things, right? I didn't know what the
right things were at the time. I do now, but I didn't then. And I'm still learning as I go along.
And anytime I learn something, I share it with you guys. So today, I'm going to just, I'm going to
share this trick with you so that you can create the space for this because these practices that I'm
going to be sharing with you on Monday, they're going to be easy and quick. They're not going to be
terribly time-consuming. So, what this does when you start adding these little bits, you know, taking
these small steps is it gets the ball rolling. It helps you gain momentum. And the more you practice
these self-cares, the more you're going to want to practice because you feel good, right? And you're
create time for yourself. You'll begin to feel the benefits and you're just going to want more. So,
that's what creates the momentum. So, everything I do, even when I'm doing goal setting, starts with small
steps. You realize when you're taking these small steps, five, ten, fifteen minutes to do this self-care,
you realize that it doesn't have to take a lot of time out of your day. A lot of times, we
think of these things, "Oh, I got to practice self-care." Oh, I just, I have no time because you think it's
going to take an hour or it's going to take even longer than an hour. Like, I don't have time to
meditate for an hour, right? So, then don't meditate for an hour. Meditate for three to five minutes.
It makes the difference. These little small practice is add-up. They add-up, you know, they build up
and they start to make a big difference in your life. So, to get started, this is going to be another
journaling exercise. I know I always go into the journaling, but that's just how I am.
Journaling itself is a powerful self-care practice. So, doing this practice today, as I talk to you
on the podcast, can count as your self-care for the day, okay? Some of the self-care practices I share
with you will take more than five, ten, fifteen minutes, but the ones I share with you on Mondays
are going to be quick ones. They're going to be something you could do quickly and easily that day
or that week. So, get your pen and paper, maybe listen to the podcast first and then get the pen and
paper. So, listen to it all the way through, or you could like, put me on pause as you do the exercise.
So, you're going to take the piece of paper. You're going to draw a line down the center of the page.
And I want you to start the think of small things that fuel your life.
Things that add joy and happiness. What makes you happy? Things that give you energy. Things that
make you feel at peace. Things that help you rest, rest your body, rest your mind. And things that
you just love, just love. So, for me, some of the things I'll share with you, this would be like a walk
or run outside in nature, a cup of tea or a cup of coffee. You know, like after I have an appointment
with a client going to make myself a cup of tea and just sitting for a moment, that makes me so happy.
And it helps me rest a little bit, helps me clear my mind, rest like in-between clients.
Cuddles with my dogs are the best, are the best. Now, I have two dogs, Max and Milly. Max is,
he cuddles on his own time, like when he decides he wants to cuddle. Milly, however, is the cuddle,
cuddleiest, if that's a word, sweetest, most loving dog there is. She actually gives hugs, right?
And so, cuddling with Milly is so therapy. She is my therapy dog. As a matter of fact, I did register
her as a therapy dog once, but she is my therapy. She is wonderful. Working in my garden, even if it's
just for a few minutes, especially in the summertime when I can go out in the garden and I'm going to
make lunch and I'm going to pick a few things. I'm going to grab a cucumber or a grab a tomato,
grab some lettuce for my, you know, just being out in the garden for those few minutes,
getting, having the sunshine on my face makes me feel good. Putting music on, right? Oh my god,
music can be so healing. So, and there's different music for different times, like sometimes you
need that angry music, you guys know what I'm talking about, right? I remember this was ages ago,
my ex-husband, this was when we were still married, was in the ICU for eight weeks. And every day,
driving to the hospital, making that trip and there was so many things going on and I was very
angry, like, very angry. And what helped me was listening to angry music on the way to the hospital.
Like, it was like a release of some sort. And so, whatever works for you, right? So, I have a time
and a place for angry music, a time and a place for music without words, like meditation, background
music, time and a place for like acoustic music, a time and a place for fun music. There's even a time
and a place for gangster rap. I'm not, I'm not kidding, there really is. So, putting on that music and
trying to connect to the mood that I want to create, okay? Doing art, now you might say, I'm not
an artistina, I'm terrible. Well, I don't consider myself an artist either, but I love doing art. I
grew up in a very artistic family. My grandmother, my great-grandmother, all artists, painters, sculptors,
all different things. My kids are artists. They draw, they paint, they sculpt, they do pottery. Like,
just, I'm surrounded by art. And so, I love doing all types of art. As a matter of fact, I've been
getting into painting and I have my paint stuff just set up on my kitchen table. Yeah, it looks a
little messy, but I could just go over there at any moment and it's watercolor. So, you know, it's very
easy to get started. So, I could go over there at any moment and just paint a little bit. You know,
I usually draw a picture and then I paint the picture that I draw. And it's just there. So, I could
legit just sit there for like 10 minutes and paint. I'll put some music on and it's wonderful. I love it,
right? A quick meditation. Doing some breath work. Doing like a quick yoga stretch. You don't have to
do a full yoga class. There's no rules here. You get to make this up. Talking to a friend, a friend that
fuels you. Not a friend that's an energy vampire, right? Talking to my kids always makes me feel better.
So, you get the idea though. These are all these little things that I could do that don't take a lot of
time. Five, 10, 15 minutes tops, right? And they add so much joy to my day. You're adding those things.
Remember, you want to add joy, energy, peace, rest, love, right? So, you've got your list there. And I
want you to make a long list, like really get into it. Come up with as many things as possible.
Make sure they're easy things to do, easy and free. You can even combine some of these things. I'll
talk a little bit more about that in a second. But so then you're going to go, those are going to be
on the left side of the paper. I'm not sure if I said that, right? And then on the right side
of the paper, I want you to make a list of the things that deplete your energy. They suck the life out
of you. They cause stress. They cause anxiety, right? They just absolutely suck, okay? And for me,
some of the things that do this to me are watching the news, right? I don't watch the news anymore at all,
at all. Trust me, you will not miss a damn thing. Everybody will feel free to tell you everything
that's going on, okay? Social media drains me sometimes. Sometimes it fuels me. There's certain things
on social media that key is knowing what fuels you and what doesn't and removing the things that
don't. You have complete control over what you see on social media, at least in some places.
But you have control over the people you follow and see. You have control over the people you block.
You have control over the groups that you participate in. And so these are some of the things I do
like on social media. Like I like some groups. I find them extremely beneficial, okay? So social media
though can be draining, especially if you spend too much time on there. There's certain people
that are draining. Energy vampires, right? Now these may be people that you love dearly,
but they do drain you sometimes, right? Start to pay attention why they drain you. It might be only when
you're talking about certain conversations, maybe like politics or religion or, you know, the
triggering conversations that we have with people. And maybe just removing those conversations
from that relationship can make it so that relationship is not an energy vampire relationship, right?
And so people, what else? Sometimes certain tasks that aren't aligned with me.
Now we all have to do stuff we don't want to do, right? I completely acknowledge that. There's always
going to be that in your life, but you have to balance it out and you have to balance it out with joy
and happy things, right? So there's certain tasks that I don't like to do. And one of those tasks
is posting on social media, but I have a business and I have to post on social media.
For the most part, I don't have to be everywhere, but I do have to have some kind of a presence, right? And so
you know, there's different ways you can handle that if the tasks aren't really aligned, or maybe I'm
just not good at some of the tasks. I'm not like a master marketing person, right? So tasks that aren't
aligned with me. And then maybe spending too much time in my emails, right? We all get, I think we all
get too many emails and spending too much time like focusing on reading the emails and going through the
emails, you know, sometimes it's better to just set a timer and spend five, 10 minutes in there and then
stop and then spend the next five or 10 minutes doing something that makes you happy, right? Don't spend
the full like half hour in the emails. So you're going to write these down on the right side of the
paper, okay? You're going to write as many as you can as many as you can think of. Now the key is to start
to add more of the good into your life. It makes sense, right? Unless of the draining stuff. This is not
an all or nothing thing list. Like I said, with the energy van by a person, it doesn't mean you have to
cut them out of your life. I mean, sometimes it does mean that, but it doesn't always mean that
because this could be someone, this could be a family member, this could be someone you really
love that you still want in your life, but they just suck the life out of you, right? So, you know,
it's not all or nothing. Maybe you spend less time with them. Maybe you change the topics that you
talk about, like I said earlier, okay? You don't have to remove everything, like say the social media.
I don't remove social media completely from my life. I like a lot of it. I love TikTok, right?
That's a bit drastic, but you have to limit the things that drain you, okay? You could spend less time
with them and start to the time that you cut off from the negative things. So, say you spent, as I
said, like on social media, say you spent like, you normally would spend so much time doom scrolling.
God knows how long you're on there, on there an hour, maybe even two hours, right? Instead,
of time for like 15 minutes and then you're automatically gaining, sorry, 45 minutes of time. And what can
you do with that 45 minutes? You could spend it doing something that's fun that adds joy, peace, love
into your life, okay? So, as an example, instead of starting your day with the news, a lot of people do
this, they turn on the news, it's a habit, right? It could even be like one of those morning shows,
but that's basically a lot of news, right? This causes stress for everyone, this causes anxiety,
there's a lot of fear on the news, right? So, turn that off, just turn it off. And then instead,
put some music on, right? We all like music. Put your favorite music on, dance to your favorite song,
sing. But if you spend your morning starting your day with your favorite song, dancing and singing,
I can guarantee you will have a better day than if you start your morning watching the news or
some kind of a morning show, okay? Next, instead of scrolling on social media, go for a quick walk
outside, get some fresh air, even if it's just for five minutes. So, if you're like, I'm not giving up
my social media, I love doom scrolling, okay? And then you could say to yourself, okay, I'm going to
set a timer for 10 minutes, okay? I'm going to doom scroll for 10 minutes and then I'm going to
immediately stop, get up and go outside for a walk, or I'm going to immediately stop and do a
quick five minute meditation, or I'm going to immediately stop and do some breath work, okay?
Instead of doing for me, instead of doing a task in my business that I hate, if possible, I could hire
someone to do that task for me, and then I could spend that time, then I have free helping more people,
which is what I love to do. So, can you see, so you could look at one side of the list and you could
say instead of doing the things that drain me, I'm going to choose to do something good. You can
even look at the list and connect the things that you could swap with a line. So you could do like a
little crisscross thing and connect the things and start planning out what you're going to like do less
of and what you're going to do more of. So, I'm going to do less watching the news and more listening
to music, or even instead of watching the news all morning, just jump into a yoga class if you love yoga,
or do a meditation, right? And then put on music. There's so many different things you could do.
Now, you could also like supercharge your self-care, right? And what I call a supercharge of self-care,
I talked about this on Monday was like you could take some of the things on the good side
and you could do them together. Like, so say one thing is some breath work and then one thing is a
walk in nature. Go out into nature, find a sitting spot where you could sit and do some breath work.
You could do breath work for five minutes and it could change the whole feeling in your body.
It could reduce stress. It could reduce the anxiety. As soon as you start to breathe
correctly, like deeper, slower breaths instead of shallow quick breaths, you could just reduce
your stress and anxiety just doing that. And I am going to be having a breath works facilitator come
in the show. I'm not sure exactly when he's going to be here. I spoke to him this morning and I'm
so excited about having him on because he said he's going to do some breath work with us. So
keep stay tuned for that. Definitely subscribe to the show so that you don't miss that one. I'm excited.
I have a whole bunch of really, really cool guest lined up to help us with all of these practices.
So at the very least, okay, I want you to do something every day for five to ten minutes. Do you think
you could do that? Even if you just do it for one day this week, I think that we could all squeeze
in something in a week that just takes five to ten minutes. So I'm not sure if you noticed this.
I kind of pointed it out, but when you take away something that's draining, you automatically create
space and time for something that can add joy. So it takes away that kind of that excuse that I don't
have time. You take away the draining thing, you add the joy. You create the time that you need. You
create the space. And I think that's kind of what people mean when they say you make time for the
things that you want to do. And when it seems like you just can't do that and you just don't have
any time, then do this exercise. It's actually kind of fun. It's kind of fun coming up with the things
that bring you joy and then adding them into your life. It just feels so good.
All right, what else do I want to say to you today?
I guess what I want to say to you, I know I like set for a moment there, a little moment of silence.
I want you to, life is too short to just hang out on like social media. Life is too short to
spend time doing things that make you miserable. Now like I said earlier, I know we all have these
responsibilities in our lives, but we have to be intentional about adding in a joy. That's what life
is about. Like you don't want to get to the end of your life and say, oh, I hung out on social media
for, you know, five years of my life, you know, if you added up all the time. Wouldn't that suck to
think that way? Now, I, I spend time on social media. I'm not saying you have to cut it out completely,
but just think about what brings meaning and happiness and joy into our lives.
We need to live our lives more in a state of joy and less in a state of stress.
This is how we create space for yourself to do the self-care practice that I'll be talking about on
Mondays. Do this exercise. Okay. Now, there's two places that you could join me to do these exercise.
There is just follow, subscribe to the podcast and check, you'll get a notifications on Mondays
of your self-care practice, or also you could join the Soulline Self-Care Insider community,
and I'll put the link in the show notes, right? So you could join me in there if you want to. You could
join the community for free. It's over on Patreon, or you could learn more about all the other things
that you get if you actually sign up for one of the paid tears, but you could join for free
and get the self-care practice every week for free. Those are two places that you can get some great
ideas for this list that you're going to make. So I want you to join me this week in doing more things
to follow you joy in your life. Make a promise to me that you're going to add some joy in this week.
Okay guys, I'll see you next week. I love you. Bye.
