Self-Care for Emotional Well-Being, Finish What You Start

One of the reasons we keep starting things but never finish them is because we don’t stop to take care of ourselves in a truly meaningful way. We do the skin care routines, the meditations, eat the right food, but still we feel overwhelmed and non-productive. This is because we aren’t going deeper into what we really need to take care of ourselves.

We continue to say yes to things we don’t want to do. We take on responsibilities that aren’t ours to take on. We overload ourselves with things we think we should be doing instead of things we enjoy and WANT to do.

They all go on the back shelf until “someday” and then we look back and wonder where all the time went.

Self-Care for Emotional Well-Being Starts Beneath the Surface

True self-care is more than the frilly outside looking in routines. It’s the deep dive into ourselves from the inside looking out. It’s removing all the ‘societal’ expectations and really acknowledging what YOU need in any given time or space.

When your energy and emotional well-being aren’t supported, it’s not a motivation problem, it’s a sustainability problem, so things get started, but they don’t get finished.

Protecting Your Emotional Well-Being Requires Boundaries

I had a situation where this really came to mind. My mother had fallen and needed some longer term assistance. Now, the last time I had been with my mother before this was an emotionally traumatic event and I had vowed that I wasn’t going back…but I was her Power of Attorney and I was the only one who could make legal and medical decisions. My sister had gone down to take care of the initial event, but I was required.

The thing is, I WANTED to take care of her…it’s my nature. I spent a year and a half with my dad as he transitioned to his next great adventure. It is a part of my being. But I could not mentally, emotionally, or spiritually be around my mother or in her space for a constant amount of time.

It took me a week of panic and therapy to find a solution so that I could go out and take care of her. The solution? An Airbnb, my own car, and limited time around her or her space.

It would have been cheaper and ‘easier’ if I had stayed in her home and used her car, but I would have been toast. As it went, I was able to prepare in the mornings to go over to her home, take care of what needed to be done, and leave anytime I needed. The added expense was totally worth my sanity and emotional well being.

My mom thought I was foolish, but it was what I needed. My sister backed me the whole way, which was amazing. And I learned a BIG lesson…that real self-care is about making sure you and your sanity are safe and healthy.

This may not look like what everyone else does. Each self-care journey is your own path. And when you ensure that your care is addressed, those things that keep dropping off, undone can be picked back up and finished…IF they are right for you to do, because now you actually have the energy and alignment to follow through.

You’ll start to become willing to say no to things that don’t fit. You’ll put more energy to the tings that do. You’ll look forward to each task, no matter how daunting, because you now that it’s in line with who you are and what you want to do in your life.

Creating Self-Care for Emotional Well-Being as a Daily Practice

This is a practice. It’s not an immediate shift. We all have patterns of self-sabotage, ways of being that have been instilled as “good behavior”. Each moment is a moment to choose between outside expectations and your own internal knowing of what is right for you. Sometimes it’s stopping for rest, taking a shower, or meditating. Sometimes it’s screaming from the hills, getting your own space, or spending a little extra to ensure you remain sane.

You get to decide what is right and caring for you. If it’s the mash pit or the ballet, costs money or is free, looks normal or looks totally off the rails, no one else can say it’s wrong. If it’s healthy for you and does no harm to others, it’s all good.

You don’t have to keep living in the cycle of starting and stopping. When your emotional well-being is supported in a way that is actually true to you, your energy returns, your clarity sharpens, and follow-through becomes something you can trust again. This is where things begin to shift, not because you’re forcing yourself to do more, but because you’re finally supporting yourself in the right way.

If you’re ready to take that next step and reconnect with what truly matters to you, download The BIG Dream Visualization and give yourself the space to hear what your next chapter is asking for, so you can move forward with clarity, confidence, and direction.