Feeling drained, stressed out and overwhelmed with the demands of being a busy caregiver? You aren’t alone in how you’re feeling. This series of 3 posts will show you the exact steps I took to regain my emotional and physical health after 15 years of being a nurse and a mom.

Rest isn’t only about sitting down and resting your physical body. It’s about resting in your body as well as resting in your thoughts. We often feel guilty or selfish when we are trying to relax because our thoughts are getting in the way. Here’s how to change that and begin to actually feel better when you rest.

Learning mindfulness practices allows you to find peace in your brain, even when your kids are wrestling or bickering, very loudly. Mindfulness allows you to become aware of the positive emotions we are all looking to have more of in our lives like gratitude, joy, love and connection.

Most of my clients come to me with some version of: “I’ve been so busy taking care of other people, my kids at home, my parents, my patients at work…that I forgot to take care of myself!” It can feel very uncomfortable to start doing things for yourself after years of caring for others, but it can be done.

The hospital environment often triggers our fight or flight nervous system, adding stress to our bodies. It’s imperative to balance the time spent in stressed states with time spent in calming states.

You can’t think your way out of chronic stress if your body still feels unsafe. Nurses and moms spend years moving from one stressful moment to the next without ever completing the stress cycle. Here’s why your nervous system stays stuck in survival mode - and how to finally release the stress to begin feeling better.