{"id":65340,"date":"2022-03-08T10:39:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T17:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=65340"},"modified":"2022-03-08T10:39:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T17:39:07","slug":"unwind-self-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/unwind-self-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Unwind: What to do when taking care of YOU feels like just another task on your to-do list"},"content":{"rendered":"

*Editor\u2019s Note: The \u201cViews from NAU\u201d blog series highlights the thoughts of different people affiliated with NAU, including faculty members sharing opinions or research in their areas of expertise. The views expressed reflect the authors\u2019 own personal perspectives.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>By Kate Carey<\/h3>\n

Executive Assistant, Senior, Human Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

On top of the universal grievances we have all been navigating, each of us also has a personal collection of challenging situations to manage. You may be enduring long-term, typical levels of stress or be nearing full burnout. Either way, reading one more \u201cinspiring\u201d article that smacks of toxic positivity or having a well-intentioned friend suggest you try meditation might just send you careening over the edge.<\/p>\n

I am here to offer you something different today.<\/p>\n

Take a breath.
\nDrop your shoulders.
\nRelax your jaw.
\nStare out the window.
\nLet your brain wander.
\nDo nothing for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s self-care.<\/p>\n

As a presenter on well-being, I have collected copious ideas for handling most of life\u2019s tribulations, be they mental, emotional, physical, nutritional, spiritual, cultural, financial, intellectual, occupational, environmental or relational. These activities reset and repair your systems, many of them are supported by research<\/a>, and all are supported by anecdotal evidence. Yet, even reading that list of life areas to address can be overwhelming and lead to inertia.<\/p>\n

Go easy on yourself.
\nSlow your breathing.
\nStretch your arms between e-mails.
\nTouch your toes between Zoom meetings.
\nStand in the sunshine for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

Little things can signal to your parasympathetic nervous system (which controls rest, repair and other pleasurable human activities) that you are safe and not being chased by a tiger. Self-care gestures signal to your body and mind that it can release unhelpful stress responses and allow you to cope with the moment in calmer, more productive ways.<\/p>\n

If you have the energy to dive a bit deeper, some areas mentioned above are discussed in our impressive Live Well NAU<\/a> website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*Editor\u2019s Note: The \u201cViews from NAU\u201d blog series highlights the thoughts of different people affiliated with NAU, including faculty members sharing opinions or research in their areas of expertise. The views expressed reflect the authors\u2019 own personal perspectives. By Kate Carey Executive Assistant, Senior, Human Resources On top of the universal grievances we have all…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":65619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1815,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjack-features","category-views-from-nau"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}