Our friend, author, health writer, and personal trainer Aleisha Fetters joins us to talk about self-care, how it started, how its perception has changed over time, and why it matters!

“Self-care, learning how to identify your own needs and then address them, is complicated. And, for each person, it looks different.

For me, self-care is about recognizing the behaviors, thoughts, and habits that signal my depression and/or anxiety are rising--or that I'm not using the tools in my toolboxes to address them, and instead am falling into unhealthy and counterproductive coping habits.

It is about recognizing what steps are important for me in times like that, and prioritizing myself. It's about valuing my own health and wellbeing as I would anyone else's. “

- K. Aleisha Fetters

Let's get started...

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About K. Aleisha Fetters, M.S. C.S.C.S.

Aleisha is an internationally syndicated fitness writer and strength coach.

Aleisha has a master’s degree in new media from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she concentrated in health and science reporting. There, she also completed undergraduate work in magazine journalism and gender studies.

As a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the NSCA, Aleisha uses her background in research, writing, and gender issues to help people empower themselves through smart strength training.

She coaches online and in-person at HiFi Fitness and Symmetry in Chicago, and apart from SELF, contributes to publications including TIME, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Runner’s World, SHAPE, U.S. News & World Report, STACK, Born Fitness, Vice, Furthermore from Equinox, and Girls Gone Strong.

She is the co-author of The Woman’s Guide to Strength Training.

She can usually be spotted in workout clothes and/or eating.

Self-Care Matters with K. Aleisha Fetters

Self-Care History

You’ve been a writer for quite a while now. When did you first start hearing about self-care in the media? What do you feel was the social climate at the time?

Why do you think the wellness field was so dominated by nutrition and exercise and how we look and just recently catching up with our mental and emotional health? Did more of us start reaching a burn out point?

Where to start?

If someone is brand new to the idea of self-care, what do you feel is a good place to start? What ideas and steps were foundational for you?

Learning how to recognize and honor your needs, and building healthy boundaries seems to be hard for many of us. How have you navigated through these challenges yourself?

How do you help your clients and readers navigate these challenges?

Self-Care in the Media

Without oversimplifying the social, political, economic and personal aspects of self-care, where do you feel that the media has done a great job of encouraging self-care?

Where have they missed the mark?

How are the self-care market and industry a part of the dark side of this?

Knowing when to start, and avoiding the traps

What are some of the common symptoms and signs that you see in yourself and clients that point to the need for self-care?

How can we avoid the trap of self-care becoming one more thing we need to check off our endless lists?

What about body positivity?

One of our listeners asked how one can be more body-positive or body-kind.

She shared she is terrified of going to the beach with people she doesn’t know well, for fear of being judged and rejected.

How does one accept their body when the media is constantly pouring out messages that we need to be thin or look a certain way. How can we start to accept our bodies the way we are?

I (Galina) personally practice very careful media hygiene – I have curated my social media feeds and the media I consume carefully to include body-positive role models and exclude images that make me spin down a cycle of self-rejection and self-objectification.

What advice do you have for her?

How has self-care progressed and changed?

Self-care may have started as a medical necessity, moved through the stage of civil rights and female rights movement, but now it seems like it’s addressing more than just specific groups – it matters to everyone.

Where do you see self-care as a way to connect to our communities and the world?

Thank you, Aleisha, for joining us on EatMoveLive52 Podcast!

K. Aleisha Fetters and all the links!

KAleishaFetters.com

Email Aleisha

Aleisha on Facebook

Aleisha on Instagram

Aleisha on Twitter

Galina on Claiming Your Personal Health Space

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Our podcast theme music is "Protofunk" by Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com. Licensed under Creative Commons 3.0.

Talk soon,

Roland & Galina