Complete the following:

• These are the things that cause me stress:
• These are the tools I currently have to support myself:
• We all have areas we want to work on, and grow in. What are some opportunities for growth that you want to focus on in your own life? Some examples might be: clearer boundaries, more sleep, eating better, building a stronger support system, practicing mindfulness or self-compassion.
• I am committing to do the following, as a practice to support my well-being:

From the First Nations Pedagogy website:

Interconnection is a central core of First Nations, Inuit and Metis worldviews and ways of knowing. Some First Nations sum this up with the phrase “All my relations”. This mindset reflects people who are aware that everything in the universe is connected. It also reinforces that everyone and everything has a purpose, is worthy of respect and caring, and has a place in the grand scheme of life.

Let’s Look at Self-Care

What if we redefine the word self-care? The term “self-care” in pop culture has come to mean spa days, yoga, hiking, or drinking green smoothies. When we look at our self-care that way, we are really trivializing something that is essential to our well-being.

Instead of the current popular understanding of “self-care,” let’s redefine it this way: Self-care means supporting our well-being with compassionate intention. After all, caring for  our well-being is much more than what we eat, and how we move our bodies (though those are important). Supporting our well-being includes doing some hard work around healing, feeling our feelings, sitting with discomfort, setting boundaries, taking personal responsibility, owning our mistakes, and offering ourselves grace and self-compassion in our own struggles and sufferings.

As mentioned throughout this curriculum, we believe in interconnection; through that lens, when each of us supports our own well-being, we understand that we are ultimately supporting the whole. So when we identify our own needs and create intention to meet them, we are supporting others in the process.

What is your preferred way to define or understand self-care?

What do you think your major needs are right now?

As we move through this module, it is our intention to give you a framework so you can continue to take care of your own needs and also give to others in your peer support role. If we are constantly giving and not filling up our own cup, we will get depleted. Not unlike a spending account–if we continually withdraw money without depositing any, eventually we will end up in overdraft.

Let’s work together to prevent overdraft.