#8: The Stepparent's Secret Weapon

Hello Stepparents! In last week’s episode I talked about how to stay sane as a stepparent. Find the show notes for that episode at www.synergisticstepparenting.com/7. I mentioned several different strategies that I tried throughout the years to help me connect with a place of calm.
I advised that it’s important to stick with something for a while before moving on. This idea of sticking with something for a while is what I’d like to explore in this week’s episode. Find the show notes for this episode at www.synergisticstepparenting.com/8.
Finding Calm – Stepparent’s Key Resource
There are many options and suggestions for how to connect with and find calm inside of your body and your mind. And let’s face it, as stepparents the need for calm is in high demand.
With today’s climate of screens and variety of technology in this digital age and add to that the limited personal space not taken over by your partner or your stepchild, it can hard to find a quiet place to unplug.
Unplugging feels so foreign that it’s downright uncomfortable. For lots of folks it’s anxiety inducing, especially if you live in North America.
Take yoga for example, a practice that is about going inward and connecting to your body through your breath. Sounds amazing – right?
The Benefit of Calm for Working Stepparents
However, if you’re the type of person who’s been living life in the fast lane and constantly rushing to do All. The. Things., the idea of yoga sounds scary if not straight up terrifying.
When I was in corporate, I prided myself on my work. Because I was good at it, my reward was that I got more tasks and projects assigned to me. At the time, I wore that as a badge of honor.
Being an immigrant from a family of hard-working accomplished over-achievers, I thought that pushing and doing was not only necessary and normal but that it was a triumph.
But, I quickly slipped into workaholism. I loved to feel productive when I’d put in lots of long hours on projects. I would feel proud of my achievements and my work ethic for being able to work that hard. In reality, I was ignoring myself.
I wasn’t taking time to think, breathe, or tune-in. Instead, I was distracting myself from what I was actually feeling and from making sense of my experience. I was just hoping everything would work out one day, instead of intentionally leading and creating my life.
One day I tried a yoga class at the gym. And over time, it completely changed my life.
Find the FULL episode transcript here. 

4BYsHsCLAfU7lKx9SM53