Yesterday I sent out an email through a program that is new to me. The email went out to a group of people who have just started to follow me and my work looking for information and support around wellness and self-care. It was my very first email through this system and I worked on it for a week. For starters, the design was challenging for me. I couldn’t get the pictures to have the right dimensions or the highest resolution. I re-wrote the content to be sure I was saying what my readers needed. I spent time organizing all of my social media contact information. (And wow, I didn’t even realize how much social media contact information I had!)
So..I finally hit send a week after I wanted it to go out.
My marketing and writing coach uses a phrase he got from his coach, ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’. I don’t particularly care for the analogy, and the concept is not a great fit for me either. I am definitely more of a ‘Ready, Aim, Fire’ kind of person. I like to do things well. I believe in what I have to offer, and I wanted this email to be excellent.
I am out on a limb taking more chances these days and learning all kinds of new things to move my business out into the world wide web, such as designing emails through marketing platforms. This means I am doing things right now that are ‘not my genius’. I LOVE this idea. I learned it at an entrepreneur conference I attended a number of years ago. This is what I was told: “Hire out for whatever is not your genius.” Hmm, well, maybe at some point I can do more of this. I don’t have the luxury of time at the moment, nor do I have the luxury of extra cash to hire out for whatever is not my genius.
How does all of this fit into my self-care?
My email had one big mistake. It was addressed to a placeholder prompt, |FNAME|*!, or something of this nature, instead of addressed to the individuals by name. I was horrified. It felt unprofessional and impersonal and like I did not know my stuff. I was stressed and upset. It was Friday night and a very rare date night with my husband. I was not in the mood for a date night, and as soon as I got in the car I started talking about how upset I was.
Within a minute my monologue had turned from being upset to self-care. Here was my train of thought:
Yes, it was ok that I was upset about this. It was important to me. I allowed myself to feel this way. This is self-compassion and mindfulness.
I worked on letting it go and thought about writing this next blog post about the situation. This is self-forgiveness and focusing on what is most important.
I was learning something new. This falls under psychological self-care and continuing to challenge myself in healthy ways.
I was following my passion and my intention of being of service to more people by expanding my business online. I am following my genius. This is spiritual self-care.
I was balancing ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’ with ‘Ready, Aim, Fire’. This is about getting my own support and coaching around new behavior strategies.
This is how I define self-care for myself. I am mindful of all of my opportunities for self-care, and this email mistake was a golden opportunity.
Where are your opportunities for self-care? Can I help you find them?
Start by taking this self-care assessment: http://www.ellenrondina.com/self-care/ and with it your FREE Self-Care Action Guide
Join my Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/self-careforhelpingprofessionals
Contact me and set up a FREE 15-minute coaching consultation https://calendly.com/ellenkamalasound
In rhythm, to your self-care,
Ellen
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