There is no such thing as a late arrival in our self-care journey

When I was returning to work after having my son, I somehow stumbled across Lori Michalich-Levin’s Mindful Return website. The focus on values, compassion, and intentionality was a perfect fit for me, and so I signed up for the 4 week Mindful Return online course. I remember very clearly feeling like the content was incredibly valuable and the community of other new moms was so validating.

And, I remember feeling like I couldn’t keep up with the ongoing lessons and discussions. I was navigating a lot of new territory personally and professionally at the time, and it was difficult to prioritize working through the course. Even though I really wanted to and knew it would be beneficial!

So I didn’t complete the course that first spring. Sometimes we have to be really honest with ourselves about what is on our plates and what is realistic to accomplish in a given phase of life, especially when parenting is involved.

Thankfully, Lori has a wise saying: "There is no such thing as 'late' in Mindful Return land!"

Apparently, I was not the first parent to feel like they were ‘behind’ and trying to ‘catch up’. Having my experience normalized and validated in this way, I was able to have a little more compassion for my own perceived ‘course failure’. And so I mustered up some courage and gave myself permission to reach out to Lori to ask if I could instead join the next cohort of Mindful Return that fall.

The second time around, I was in a much clearer headspace and was better able to make the course a priority. And, was then able to really benefit from both the community connections and the content and strategies. That was nearly 6 years ago now, and I have since taken part in a variety of other Mindful Return trainings - because of course navigating work and family is an ongoing journey.

Clearly I am a ‘super fan’, but this is not intended to be promotion for Mindful Return. It doesn’t matter if these specific resources are relevant for or resonate for you or not. What does matter, though, is really believing that it’s okay to give something a second try, even if (and especially if) we feel like we didn’t ‘measure up’ the first time. You never know what valuable experiences are waiting on the other side of that discomfort border. And when we are on a life-long journey like parenting, we need all the supports we can get!

Is there something related to self-care that you've tried in the past that deserves a second chance? Drawing from Lori's wisdom: There is no such thing as a late arrival in our self-care journey!