Katrina Nicole Espiritu: Spiritual care is the best self care that they can make in their every day lives.

Hannah P. Limon: You know, not being stuck so much with what I feel I can try to do, but more so on what God can do for me.

Nikki Custodio: You know, I think God takes great care of us in a way that we are still able to manage our day to day lives.

Keziah Gutierrez: I think put God first and everything will follow.

[Show intro] 

Hannah: Welcome to the Heart and Soul podcast, where we have honest conversations that nurture our souls. And this is the start of our brand new season. So excited to have Heart and Soul back. And today we’re talking about something a lot of us think about doing, but maybe can’t find time to do that. We’re talking about self-care, how it can help us, calm us, soothe us. But is there such a thing as too much self-care? And how can spiritual care be self-care? So let’s talk about it. I’m Hannah, your host for today’s episode, let’s have a Heart and Soul conversation.

[Music] 

Hannah: I’m so excited to kick off this new season. I’m not going to lie, it’s crazy because for most of us, we’ve been listeners of Heart and Soul, and here we are. It’s quite a journey, and with me are also my fellow co-hosts Kat from the Philippines, Kez from Australia and Nikki here in the States, actually in California. Hi, ladies.

Nikki: Hello, hi!

Kez: Hello, good morning!

Kat: Hello. 

Hannah: So self-care, what do you all do for your form of self-care in your everyday lives? Just to let you all think about it real quick. Here’s a source according to Psychology Today:

[Source: psychologytoday.com]

“Self care in essence is the mindful taking of time to pay attention to you, not in a narcissistic way, but in a way that ensures that you are being cared for by you.” 

Hannah: So now we got a fair sense of what self-care is defined as by various sources around the world. So for us four here, how strongly would you all say that self-care has been integrated into our feeds? So let me start off with Kez from Australia, hi!

Kez: Okay, so for me, my self-care is actually quite different I think from everybody, my self-care is silence. That’s because of my line of work. I’m a teacher, and Hannah I know you’re a teacher too. 

Hannah: Oh yes. In elementary, though. You’re in high school, right?

Kez: Yes, I’m a high school teacher. But it’s still the same. It’s a lot of noise. You do get over-stimulated noise. So my form of self-care is just to sit down somewhere and just be quiet.

Hannah:  Relax. Be in the presence. 

Kez: Yeah, but, you know, doing that as well kind of helps me kind of just, like, calm down everything. Because I’ve got a lot of things to think about at work. And just gives me time to just kind of just take a break. So just take a brain break, as we say in the classroom. And so sometimes I just let my mind wander on just things: What am I going to cook for dinner tonight? Or what show should I watch at the end of the day?

Hannah: Yes, I know it. And same here. It’s also, it’s my dream job to just be in the classroom and teach. For younger students, they’re still understanding the world, and there’s just so much that they need to develop in their, you know, in their minds. But I get what you mean. There’s so many decisions we make in our jobs and for people in our age, there’s also many decisions we make as well, even in our studies. So of course, there’s just times when we just need to relax, take a breather. So, of course, I know there’s others who do, more active ways to take care of themselves through self-care. So let me ask Kat, hello from the Philippines. So what is it that you do to take care of your needs just for yourself? 

Kat: Oh Hannah, here in the Philippines the usual thing in the work is five days work in a week, eight hours each day. So it’s really stressful. But self-care, my form of self-care: taking time for myself, I probably strive to jog every week and catch up with my friends, and of course, I love journaling. That’s how I take time for myself. 

Hannah: Yeah, like self-reflection. You know, some common ways others have, practice self-care is, you know, journaling. Just reflecting on how the day goes. I’d say even what you said, Kat reflecting with friends. You know, sometimes we, you know, we vent or we talk to our friends just to give updates in our lives, you know, like, how often do you see your friends when it’s after work? You know, you’re still tired, but you just want to see your friends, Kat. 

Kat: Actually, my friends are always asking “When will you be available? You’re always busy Kat.” You’re going to relate to me, like, I was at work on weekdays and Church duties at weekends. So probably the other time around is for home chores, so I don’t have any time to catch up with friends. So when [I’m] catching up with friends they will message me that “Kat, are [you] available at this time. Oh no. How about this time?” So we’ll be conversing about our availability. So we’re going to talk about anything about us. About everything, especially about Church, about our Church duties. Because most of my friends are Church members.

Hannah: Yes, I agree. And it’s just I feel we can all relate. Adulting, right? But it’s so hard! We literally have to take the time to schedule with our friends because of our clashing schedules. But, you know, that’s part of self-care, right? You’re setting aside the time. You’re dedicating all that effort to be with your friends, not only for them, but even for yourself. You know, it’s just, how do you say it’s just a breath of fresh air when you get to just, not be with yourself so much, even though that’s not bad, but even be with good company. So, yes, I, I get what you mean. Kat. Especially from, you know, different sides of the world. It’s all the same challenges that we face as young adults. Now how about you, Nikki? So, whether your work hours have changed or it’s still the same with trying to find the time. How have you managed with self-care, whether for yourself or even just reaching out to others and the like? 

Nikki: Oh man, this is such a great topic. I think self-care is extremely important. I kind of draw from, from everyone here. So, I know Kez said silence, right? So for me, I like reflecting, I like reflecting, sometimes deep in my thoughts and I like to tie it back to the blessings God has given me. So, I want to constantly be in a state of gratitude. So there’s that. And I know Kat mentioned journaling, which is funny because I actually love to journal. I love writing down my thoughts after I think about it. So yes, I love journaling. also reflecting back and reading on those journal entries, and it also shows me how much I’ve grown throughout the past couple of months or even years. I’ve been journaling for a couple of years now. But personally, for me, I’ve been doing this new thing for self-care. I’ve been going on more walks. So yes. Yeah. So before I used to go to the gym, here and there, but there’s just something I prefer about going on outdoor walks. The sun is just beaming on my face, and I go to this park, I put on a podcast, you know, and I listen to music, and I just walk. And next thing you know, I’m just walking for three, four miles just—

Hannah: Oh wow, got carried away.

Nikki: I just got carried away. Yes. So, you know, integrating everyone’s answers, yes, self-care. That’s how I’ve been practicing it recently.

Hannah: I relate to that. I feel I need to be more accountable with, just physical activity overall. I feel I make excuses like, well, I walk around a lot at work when I pick up my groups of stude