Establishing Mindsets and Embracing Action
In January, we reflect on the previous year and plan for the next.
The blog earlier this month encouraged you to embrace this year as a journey toward wholeness and peace. Some highlights:
- You have 365 chances to live the best day possible.
- Your mind, body, and spirit can inform how to utilize your 24 hours.
Healthy mindsets create fertile ground to begin to start new ways of being. Here are some helpful quotes:
- “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” Eleanor Roosevelt
- “New year, a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it, the choice is ours.” Alex Morritt
- “I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.” Juansen Dizon
Starting New Ways of Being
Survivors of abuse often struggle with balancing the needs of others without neglecting their own.
- When we were Victims, we might not have felt worthy to care for ourselves or to speak our truths.
- As Survivors, we reclaimed our voice but may have served others to distract ourselves from the heaviness of emotions produced by our healing.
- As we move toward being Thrivers, we must better advocate for ourselves to maintain optimal health (physically, mentally, and spiritually).

Key Message: Self-care is not selfish.
- It’s about self-respect and nonjudgmentally accepting our needs.
- Self-care allows us to pause, recharge, and reset, so we have the energy to be present and loving for both ourselves and others.
- The power of self-care is in the endless ways we reconnect with ourselves and promote our overall wellness. Self-care can be customized to fit our particular situation.

Small Ways to Reconnect and Recharge
- Take advantage of comforts like a luxurious bubble bath, cozy clothes, and guilty pleasure entertainment.
- Start to exercise in a way that is fun for you. This could be dancing when your favorite song comes on, walking in nature, or tapping into the benefits of Pilates or yoga.
- Find ways to get quiet in your body through meditation, reflection, or prayer.

Other Ways to Embrace Self-Care
Breathe and Know What is Right for You
- A breath signals you it’s time to slow down and be receptive to your inner wisdom.
- Listen to this wisdom without judgment.
- Let the light within you guide you away from any gremlin speak that may arise. These limiting beliefs and external echoes are distractions on your journey to healing and wholeness.
- Ask yourself what you need in the month(s) ahead or at this exact moment. Let the answer form within you and meet it without judgment.
- Consider how much time each day you want to set aside for self-care. Know you can adjust this allotment day to day, as long as you ensure some time is set aside for yourself.

Tune Out the External World
Tuning Out is like a comfort meal for your mind, body, and soul by creating your personal sanctuary.
Begin by focusing on a room that you retreat to when pressure builds in your life.
- Give this space a long overdue, but cost-friendly redesign.
- Look at replacing your linens, blankets, or pillows.
- Perhaps switch out your bulbs to a more calming light. Maybe visit a thrift store to discover either a new favorite lamp or a fan to produce REM-inducing white noise.
In the bathroom, create your own personal spa.
- Replace expired beauty products with natural items you can buy through a local small business, or make your own.
- Visit a store to add luxury to your next bath like a pillow, hairband, eye mask, scrubber, or tub tray.
- When you are ready to enjoy a bath or shower, experiment with different essential oils to help balance your mood and energy.
- Make sure you have a fun cozy robe to wrap up in after your time in your spa!

Tune In to Your Inner Wisdom
- “Tuning In” is when you want to go deeper than creature comforts. This is like your healthy and filling meal.
- To discover ways to engage your Inner Voice, Tuning In inspires an honest and vulnerable dialogue with yourself and produces benefits long after your practice.
- Guided meditations are a helpful way to grow your Inner Voice and Wisdom.
Here is a seasonal mediation for release inspired by Barbara Ann Kipfer’s Natural Meditations:
- Build a snowman either in your mind or outside.
- Mindfully form the figure while visualizing your stress, frustrations, or resentment.
- Let those bitter feelings embed into the snow.
- The flakes, like your negativity, have piled up gradually over time.
- The act of reshaping facilitates energy movement within you, creating space for peace in your life.
- As you give your toxins to the snowman, envision how the sun will melt it along with your limiting feelings, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
- This release allows the rancor to be purified by the Earth and Spirit.
- Ultimately, the act bolsters new life to grow and flourish.
- End your practice by giving thanks to yourself, Spirit, and the Earth for inspiring you to find the time and joy in your healing process.

As you enter this new year, we at Survivors to Thrivers encourage you to reassess your self-care strategies.
You will not let anyone down or delay any tasks by finding time to focus on your personal needs.
Instead, you will remind yourself of your inherent value and become more equipped to maintain a thriver mindset.
If you are still concerned about time constraints, focus on a simple step. Remember to breathe.
- Breathing helps settle your nervous system, reduces hyperarousal, and provides you energy to better engage with your tasks and loved ones.
Thank you for being a part of this uplifting community. Share your experiences with self-care via email, blog comments, or through our social media channels.
May the gift of self-care help you be the lightkeeper of love and hope for yourself and all those in your life.


Talk To Tambry
I am glad you have taken the time to engage with this blog. Sometimes it is helpful to process new insights that emerge. If you would appreciate brief time with a someone who understands, our Talk to Tambry offering is for you. For 30 minutes, you can receive support from Tambry who is a certified life coach, spiritual director and a survivor who has been on the journey as well. This is offered at a reduced rate of $50.