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The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Self-Care (with Jillian Loesch)
Updated: Nov 14, 2022
I’ve invited Jill Loesch onto this week’s episode of the podcast to share her wisdom and work with self-care. Jill is a self-care strategist and educator who specializes in creating practical systems that can be integrated throughout the day with the time you already have. As an educator herself, Jill works with the intention to support teachers in taking care of their needs in and out of the classroom to reduce stress and avoid burnout.
Jill and I have connected through Instagram, (surprise, surprise, right?!) based on the similarity of our stories. Like me, Jill encountered a pivotal moment in her teaching career where she knew something had to shift. She created her brand and business, The Self-Nurtured Teacher, as a way to prioritize herself after a life-threatening diagnosis. Now, she helps other women and educators to create sustainable practices to nourish themselves from the inside out. I know that after this episode, you’ll feel empowered to invest in yourself like never before!
In this conversation, Jill shares…
“I don’t call it self-care, I call it self-nurturing.”
Self-care has been identified as being very important, especially with how fast-paced life is becoming. Even if you aren’t in the teaching profession, it’s difficult to find time to do all the things while still maintaining your physical, mental, and emotional health.
But the definition of self-care has become skewed as companies take advantage to this new market. Self-care, while well intentioned, has now become associated with high priced luxuries and other commercialized items that only provide temporary relief. And because of how commercialized self-care has become, many people roll their eyes when they hear someone talking about createing healthy self-care practies or even avoid it all together.
It’s because of this that Jill does her best to avoid calling it “self-care” and instead uses the phrase “self-nurturing”. Swapping out the word “care” for “nurturing” re-establishes the idea that these are practices that you do on a daily basis to ensure that you are able to show up in life as your best self.
“Self-care is not alone-care”
Current self-care practices often perpetuate the idea that self-care is something that you do alone.
You go get your nails done - alone.
You go shopping - alone.
But this idea that self-care is something that one does by themselves puts women into these “self-care silos” that often breed feelings of isolation and worry that one isn’t “doing self-care right”, causing many to stop, or even avoid, self-care all together.
Jill challenges this by reminding us that self-care is not alone-care. Self-care is best when it’s connected to a supportive community. Being apart of a community of others who are devoted to creating sustainable and healthy self-care practices is powerful. There’s a feeling of empowerment that comes when you’re apart of a community. And when you can talk with others who are going through the same things that you are, it removes the stigma and normalizes the self-care journey.
Are you looking for an empowering self-care community? Check out Jill’s Self-Care Society!
“Motivation is B.S.”
So many people miss out on self-care opportunities because they are waiting for the motivation. The motivation to take that class, or the motivation to go for that walk…
But motivation is a fallacy. (To learn more about this, check out the book Start with the why by Simon Sinek).
What is true is the want to contine something that “pays out” and provides us with some sort of return on our action. So, we need to stop waiting for the “motivation” to do something, and just start taking small, simple actions to create the change tht we want and deserve to start getting that feeling of return for our actions.
Jill suggests that if you’re looking a small action step to take to start your self-care journey, she suggests starting with daily affirmations because they are quick, one-minute moments that you can add into your day that have the power to change your thoughts in such a positive way that your actions will start to match, thus making it easier to continue to take time for yourself.
Do you have a self-care routine or feel like you need to re-vamp routines that you already have? Here are Jill’s suggestions:
Take time to reflect, specifically reflecting on what feels good/right for you.
Find a self-care community
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Find Jill
Website: selfnurturedteacher.com
Instagram: @theselfnurturedteacher
Facebook: @theselfnurturedteacher
Guest Bio
Jill is a veteran teacher, certified life coach, and small business owner that knows what it’s like to give more to a career than to yourself. She also knows the long term effects and realities of not taking your own needs seriously and giving at all costs. Jill helps other overworked women find everyday self care using the schedule they already have.
If you are enjoying the podcast, please do me a HUGE favor and rate, share, and subscribe to this podcast. My hope is that the experiences and gems shared on this show will inspire teachers to become better versions of themselves as they redefine what it means to teach well and prioritize themselves.