Make Your Warning Label

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It’s August, so, if you’re working until 5:00 every Friday until Labor Day, you’re doing it wrong—it’s time to relax and rejuvenate! But just between us, when you hear the words “self-care,” do you think of something passive, like sitting with a cup of tea while your in-box blows up? Let’s transform that visual into a realistic practice.

Caring for yourself isn’t an intangible “nice to have.” It has a quantifiable effect on your productivity, enjoyment of life, and your relationships. Self-care doesn’t need to be a full-time job, but it is an everyday job. So, this month you’ll learn how to support your well-being with four different kinds of essential self-care—physical, mental, emotional and whole self—in the series, Transformative Self-Care.

Kiyokotown had a funny Tweet about self-care. She posted, “If you had a warning label, what would it say? Mine: Doesn’t handle crowds well. Keep away from open flames and open mouth chewers. To prevent injuries, avoid saying ‘calm down.’” Her perspective highlights a serious point. If someone asked you for your warning label, what would it say?

Your Mental and Emotional Inputs Have a Physical Impact

After a shocking pre-diabetes diagnosis, Julie was determined to lose the baby weight she gained from two back-to-back pregnancies. It was a tall order since she had gained over 50 pounds with each baby. But Julie didn’t focus on a number on the scale or the size of her jeans. Instead, her aim was simple: Optimum health.

Over the next year, Julie discovered that meeting her goal required shaking loose toxic parts of her life. Her warning label evolved to include emotional and mental aspects affecting her fitness like:

1. Doesn’t handle negative chit-chat well. Julie withdrew from a co-worker who spent most of her time tearing others down. Her colleague’s self-created drama made for constant stress—the opposite of Julie’s idea to engage in positive, optimum health activities.
2. Needs daily quiet time. Julie took 30 minutes at lunch to walk and listen to an audio book. Giving her mind a healthy escape made the world seem manageable.
3. Never declares, “I alone can fix it.” Julie exchanged being a superhero for being a super collaborator. When she let go of the pressure she imposed on herself to solve every problem alone, it was also easy to let go of the vending machine candy bars!

The Warning Label Challenge

You can personalize Julie’s journey. Be imaginative using the soft skill of creativity, but go beyond making a funny warning label—fill it with small, easy-to-implement practices. Take the warning label challenge:

• Make it fast by taking 30 seconds to affirm you’ll avoid toxic triggers. Say, “I recharge with optimistic people and habits.”
• Make it deep by taking no more than 30 minutes to sketch out three items for your warning label. Your top of mind responses are right! And for an expert-level challenge, name something in each of the emotional, physical, and mental categories.
• Make it real by putting your warning label on your phone. Checking in every day is the easiest way to avoid overload.

Making a personal warning label is easy. Just ask yourself what you no longer need or want—that’s your instincts telling you how to care for yourself.