5 Ways to Take Care of Yourself When Life Feels Way Too Hard

 

Hey hey beautiful human!

Some seasons take so much out of you that taking care of yourself starts to feel like one more thing you do not have the energy for. The workout you normally love feels impossible. Making a real meal feels like effort. Texting someone back feels like effort. Even resting can feel hard because your brain keeps reminding you of everything that still needs to get done.

And then comes the guilt. Like you should be handling it better. Like you should be doing more. Like you should somehow be able to keep your normal routine while life feels anything but normal.

That is exactly who this episode is for.

In this episode of Embrace Your Real, we are talking about five ways to take care of yourself when life feels way too hard. Not the cute, perfect, “reset your whole life” version of self-care. The real version. The kind that meets you when your capacity is low and helps you take the next small step without making you feel like you are failing.

What’s Discussed:

  • Why hard seasons need a different kind of self-care

  • How to stop measuring today’s capacity against a different version of your life

  • What to do when your normal routine feels completely out of reach

  • How to let support in without making it feel like a huge thing

  • Why coming back slowly can be more helpful than making up for lost time

  • What it can look like to keep taking care of yourself in small, realistic ways

If movement is one of the small things that helps you feel a little more like yourself, Movement With Julie can make it easier to start. Open the app, choose a 30-minute workout, and follow the plan without having to think through what to do. Head to movementwithjulie.com to get started.

If you loved this episode, you will also love Episode 612: Why Imperfect Consistency Beats Trying to Be Perfect Every Time. It is the perfect next listen if you need the reminder that showing up in a smaller way still counts, especially when life feels heavy.

If you want more from me, be sure to check out…

Transcript

(0:00) Hey, hey beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, (0:06) but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Reel with me, Julie Ledbetter.

(0:13) I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. (0:19) Stay tuned if you're ready to Embrace Your Reel. Let's get it, let's go! (0:33) Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode on the Embrace Your Reel podcast.

(0:37) I'm so grateful that you are here with me today. (0:39) All right, so this episode is for the woman who is going through it right now. I'm not talking about a bad day.

(0:44) I'm talking about the kind of hard where getting through the week takes everything you have and there's really nothing left over for the things (0:52) you normally do for yourself. Like your energy's gone, your routine is gone. (0:55) You're just trying to make it to the end of the day and even that feels like a full-time job.

(0:59) And on top of that, you still feel like you should be doing even more. I've been in that place. (1:03) I know how exhausting it is to feel like you're falling behind in every area of your life at the same time.

(1:09) And so today I just want to give you five really practical things that you can do to take care of yourself when life feels way too hard. (1:15) These are not big life changes. These are small doable things that can help you get through this without completely losing yourself in the process.

(1:24) Before we dive in though, I want to share this review. I should give a five-star view and said, (1:27) love it. This is the first podcast I've ever loved.

This helps keep me motivated and I learned so much. (1:33) All the small changes have slowly led to big changes that's sustainable. Look forward to each and every episode.

(1:39) I love this so much. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and I feel honored that this is the first podcast that you've ever loved. (1:45) So thank you for tuning in and I'm grateful that it's helping you.

(1:48) Alright, we're just going to dive right in. So if life feels way too hard, (1:52) here are five things that you can do to take care of yourself through it. (1:55) Number one, I need you to lower the bar to where you actually are, not where you think you should be.

(1:59) And I think this is the first thing that needs to happen because so many of us are walking around holding ourselves to a standard that belongs to a completely different time in our life. (2:08) You are comparing yourself to the version of you that had more sleep, more energy, fewer things going wrong, a lot more capacity, (2:15) and then you feel guilty because you just can't keep up with her right now. But that is not where you are right now.

(2:20) And expecting yourself to perform the same way when everything around you is different is only going to make you feel worse. (2:26) And so I want you to look around where you actually are right now and what you're actually able to do and let that be the standard. (2:32) If you used to cook dinner every night and right now you can barely get through a drive-thru, that's fine.

(2:37) If the house is messy and the laundry is piling up and you're doing the bare minimum to get through the day, (2:42) that does not mean that you are failing. It means that you are surviving something hard and you're still here. (2:46) Number two, I need you to pick two small things that you can do today and let that be enough.

(2:52) When everything feels overwhelming, we tend to either try to do it all or completely shut down (2:57) and neither of those things is going to help you right now. So instead of looking at your entire (3:01) routine and feeling paralyzed by how far behind you are, I want you to pick two things. That's it, just two.

(3:06) Maybe today it's drinking enough water and going for a 10-minute walk. Maybe it's eating a meal (3:10) with actual protein in it and going to bed before 10 p.m. It does not need to be impressive, (3:15) it just needs to be doable. And when you do those two things, I want you to let that be enough for (3:21) today.

I do not care how small it looks. You showed up for yourself today and that is what matters. (3:27) Number three, treat taking care of yourself like something that you have to do, not something that (3:32) you earn.

And this one is so important because I see women do this all the time. They put themselves (3:36) at the very bottom of the list and only take care of themselves once everything else is handled. (3:40) And when life is hard, everything else is never handled.

So they never get to themselves. I want (3:46) you to actually think about what happens when you skip meals, skip sleep, skip movement, and skip (3:51) anything else that fills you up. Everything else gets harder.

You're more tired, you're more (3:55) emotional, you're more overwhelmed, you have less patience for all the things that you are (3:59) already testing you throughout your day. So stop waiting until you feel like you deserve it. (4:04) Put you on the list the same way that you would put a meeting or an appointment on.

(4:09) It's not selfish, it is absolutely necessary. And remember, taking care of yourself doesn't (4:14) always mean doing more. Sometimes it means letting yourself switch off, (4:18) watching something mindless on the couch, saying no to plans, going to bed early.

(4:22) That counts too. Rest is not the opposite of taking care of yourself. It is taking care of (4:27) yourself.

Number four, open up to at least one person about how you're actually doing. And I (4:33) know this one is hard, especially when you're used to being the person who holds it together (4:36) for everyone else, but keeping everything inside doesn't protect anyone. It just means that you're (4:41) dealing with it alone.

You don't need to have this big emotional conversation or know exactly (4:46) what to say. You can text a friend and just say, I'm not doing great right now. Or tell (4:51) your spouse, I'm struggling more than I've been letting on.

Or write it in a journal if (4:55) talking feels like too much right now. The point is to stop carrying it by yourself, (4:59) because the second that you let someone in, even a little bit, the pressure starts to lift (5:04) and sometimes just hearing someone say, I'm here is enough to help you get through the next day. (5:10) And last but not least, number five, come back slowly instead of trying to make up for lost time.

(5:15) This one is for the moment when things start to feel a little bit lighter. When you get a good (5:19) night's sleep and you suddenly want to do everything. When you want to meal prep, you (5:23) want to get back to five days a week with workouts.

You want to reorganize your whole life. You want (5:28) to make up for every day that you fall behind. I get that feeling.

But going all in the (5:32) second that you feel a little bit better is exactly how you'll end up back where you started. (5:37) Your body and your mind need a slow re-entry. Start with one workout, not five.

Add things (5:42) back one at a time. Give yourself a few weeks of showing up at half effort before you try (5:47) to get back to complete full speed. Because the goal is not to bounce back overnight.

The (5:51) goal is to come back in a way that actually lasts. And if you're in the middle of something (5:56) hard right now, I just want you to know that taking care of yourself does not have to look (6:00) the way that it normally does. It just has to exist.

You just need to keep doing something small (6:05) even when it feels pointless because it's not. And if getting a workout in is one of those small (6:10) things that can help you feel like yourself again, that's exactly why I built my Moomoo with Julie (6:14) app. You can literally open up the app, pick a 30-minute workout, just follow the workout.

All (6:18) you need is a few pair of dumbbells and a small space. No thinking, no planning, just (6:22) movement. If you want to learn more, you can find it at sale, S-A-L-E dot movement (6:28) with Julie.com or I'll also link it in the show notes below.

If you love this episode, (6:32) I think you will also love episode 612, why imperfect consistency beats trying to be perfect (6:38) every single time. It really goes deeper into why showing up at 50% still counts and why that's (6:44) actually what builds real results. I will link that in the show notes below.

And if you're not (6:48) already following the podcast on Apple and Spotify, be sure to do so. So you never miss an episode, (6:53) but that is everything for today. If you're in this stage right now, I just want you to (6:57) remember that you don't have to do it all.

You just have to keep going and that this season (7:01) two shall pass. I love you. I'm rooting for you and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

(7:16) All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. (7:23) First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A. (7:27) Ledbetter.

Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips (7:33) and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, (7:38) be sure to subscribe to Apple podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining (7:45) me.

It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. (7:49) The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident (7:54) and secure in being authentically themselves.

Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than (8:01) the surface. So go out there and embrace a real because you're worth it.

 
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