This way of identifying us as people is most disliked, especially when we are either unhappy with our jobs, in between them, transitioning jobs, or simply tired of being identified by what we do.

Maybe we don’t need to empty our mind but rather learn to listen better so that we can choose how we use our attention. 

We all have a need to feel seen, heard, and rewarded; however, having all the answers makes us feel more isolated. Working in this way, it’s not working, is it?

The purpose of curiosity is to practice openness. To let opportunity and possibility show itself by learning to pause and listen for just a little longer.

Looking at the statistics of what causes burnout, it’s clear it isn’t only rooted in working too much but rather the loss of agency we experience by worrying too much and feeling that we do not belong or matter, which is why the Self-Care Mindset® is so important in cultivating work-life quality.

I used to think being stressed at work is how work is. I even wore it as a badge of honor. I believed I had to choose between being successful and having a personal life, not to mention putting my health on hold to reach my goals. Many of us have this very relationship with work and self, and if you are like most people, you have accepted that work hurts.

Stress is neither a badge of honor nor a defect. You are not more important because you are stressed or less capable. You are stressed because you care.

When we pause to reflect on what we need to figure something out rather than getting stuck in what we are not able to accomplish, we tap into our inherent growth mindset, which is also how we build confidence. 

Can we talk about how we continue to grow by being committed to ourselves? By being committed to our own learning, knowing ourselves more deeply, and developing skills to grow through uncertainty and harness change, instead of just surviving it? 

Work is the place where we can unlock our human potential from the inside out, ––if we have the tools and a culture that believes people are the most important secret sauce.

How long have you been holding your breath, trying to deal with a turbulent sea by not rocking the boat? And yet we all know that work is not working for us, and taking more time off isn’t going to fix it either.

I always say self-care is a relationship we have with ourselves, and for that relationship to be a healthy one, we need to have healthy conversations with ourselves.

If we want to understand how to stay motivated and inspired truly, it's important to pause for just a little longer and listen inside, not to your yearnings, longings, and desires, but to the heart of the matter. Listen for just a little longer to connect to what you care about.

The faster you catch your thoughts on their way down the rabbit hole, the faster you can get your mind back to working better for you. That's mindfulness. What you do with your thoughts is self-care.

Whenever you find yourself flooded by overwhelm, take a pause and ask yourself: what this is for, who it is for, and why it matters (to them or you). Make sure you hone in on the purpose of solving the problem, not what will happen to you if you don’t. 

I think we need to recognize that facing challenges doesn't mean we are broken. We are not either broken or having it together. There's a whole messy middle called life that happens every single day.

When we are in the business of looking for trouble, we can easily become why-notters. We ask why something is not working instead of asking how we can make it work.

People, experiences, and beliefs about who we are and can be is all part of who we are becoming every single day. As we go through life our hopes and possibilities face our fears and losses. We build resilience as we grow through adversity and let ourselves be driven by what we care about.

The mindset of more, more, more, and never being, doing, or having enough is costing us our mental health. And we see it everywhere.

Speaking up to ask for what we need to support and succeed in our human advantage to do good work will sound like CARE: confidence, agility, resilience, and equity. When self-care and well-being are the foundation of reaching our goals, we all thrive together.