37. Start With You: How Prioritizing Self-Care First Sets the Tone for Your Day

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Feeling overwhelmed, scattered, or like there’s never enough time for you? In this episode of The Nurses' Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, Jenny shares practical self-care strategies to help busy caregivers and nurses reclaim time and energy—without guilt.

Discover the importance of proactively scheduling your “yellow” time—those uplifting, energizing moments that fuel your body, mind, and spirit. Learn why front-loading your day with meaningful, joy-filled routines can make a massive difference in your mood, productivity, and overall wellness.

💛 Whether it’s five minutes of journaling, stretching, or enjoying a peaceful cup of tea—these micro moments matter.

✅ Takeaways & Action Steps

• Color-code your calendar to reflect your self-care time
• Start your day with habits that nourish you (even tiny ones)
• Schedule what's most important to YOU—before your day fills up
• Remember: if it’s not on the calendar, it’s easy to let it slide
• Morning routines don’t need to be long—just intentional

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of the Nurse's
Break Room with Jenny Lytle RN.
Last week we talked aboutprioritizing and did the little
rocks versus big rocks versussand exercise to show where our
priorities lie, and one of theways to make sure that we're
making time for the things thatare most important to us is to

(00:24):
schedule that stuff into ourcalendar first.
It can be so easy to focus onthe things that we have to do,
the appointments we have, thethings that we're doing for
other people, but having timefor ourselves and for the things
that are priorities in ourlives is a great way to make

(00:47):
sure that we're really focusedon what matters most to us and
what brings us peace and joy andjust makes life good.
And it doesn't have to be bigchunks of time, necessarily, but
it can be those little thingsthat really do make a difference

(01:08):
.
So I like to schedule in mypersonal time my things that I
know lift my spirit, that makeme a better version of me.
I schedule them in yellow on myGoogle Calendar.
I use a paper planner for likeday-to-day very specific kind of

(01:32):
things, different projects andthings that I'm working on, but
as far as blocking out timewhere nobody else can schedule
that with me, then I like to dothat in my Google Calendar and
my family is able to see that aswell, and it just lets me know
when I don't have very muchyellow.
Because I use that and you mayhave heard me talk about I use

(01:53):
that because it's my bestversion of me time and yellow is
like sunshine, and it alsoreminds me of bananas, which is
the bee and it's that roundaboutway.
But when I see that yellowstuff, I know that I'm doing
what I need to do to take careof myself, and so for me, that
may be things like massages orgoing for a hike maybe a little

(02:16):
bit longer of a hike somewhere,or getting together with friends
or having specific family timethat I'm spending with, with
people one-on-one or in a group.
But in addition to those things,there are certain things that I
like to do more often, littlemicro moments that I have to

(02:41):
focus on, the things that I knowmake my life better, make me
better, and, for instance,getting up and starting my
morning with I get my coffeeready and I get green tea ready,
and so I have half a cup ofcoffee, because it just doesn't
sit with me as well as it usedto anymore, and so I do half a

(03:05):
cup of coffee and then I drinkgreen tea and I make a cup of
that and then later I switch todecaf green tea, and so I do
that along with my water and Ido some morning getting ready
kind of things, and then when Icome downstairs to my office I
start off with doing mydevotionals, because I know

(03:26):
that's something that starts myday focused on God, which is
important to me, and I want toset the tone for my day and
doing that, and while I'm doingthat as well, then I also
journal as I'm going throughthat and anything that pops up
that really speaks to me, then Iwill journal that, and

(03:48):
sometimes it's directly relatedto what I've read, and other
times it's something that comesto me as I'm reading that or as
I'm sitting there.
And I also have a couple ofdevotional type books that
aren't necessarily devotionalsbut they're short daily reads
and I do those encouragingreadings as well.
And then I have been jumpinginto work.

(04:13):
But what I've realized is thatwhen I do that and when I think,
okay, you know what I'm goingto do some loving movement, some
kind of exercise, stretching,things like that.
I'm going to do that and I'mgoing to do it later in the day.
Then what often happens is I getbusy or I get tired, or I get

(04:38):
sidetracked, I get pulled inanother direction, and so what
I'm starting to try to do moreoften is to have those things
planned at the beginning of myday, those things that are the
most important to me, the thingsthat I know help me show up
better for others and for myself, that help make me feel better

(05:00):
mentally, physically,spiritually, emotionally and get
those in closer to thebeginning of the day.
Because when we try to do thatlater on at the end of the day,
then so many other things canpop up and crowd that out and it
ends up feeling like it's not apriority, when really it should

(05:22):
be our ultimate priority,because those are the things
that keep us healthy, keep usstrong, keep us in a positive
mind frame where we're able tocontinue to do the things that
we're doing for other people aswell.
So I just I'm curious as to howthat sits with you and how you
do that, and if maybe you couldconsider picking a thing or two

(05:47):
that you know you feel betterwhen you do and plug that in at
the beginning of your day andthat may look different
depending on what your schedulelooks like.
It doesn't have to be firstthing in the morning, but
getting that in at the beginningof your day and that may look
different depending on what yourschedule looks like.
It doesn't have to be firstthing in the morning, but
getting that in earlier in theday rather than later, is a
great way to be much more likelyto actually get it done and do

(06:08):
those things that take care ofyou.
Until next time, remember thatself-care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we wannacontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.
Have a great week.