“I will take care of me for you, and you will take care of you for me.” – Alex, Workshop Participant
In this #AerieREAL Life Workshop, Cultural Expert & CEO of Talk To Jess, Jess Weiner, and #AerieREAL Role Model & Self-Care Activist, Iskra, lead us through a REAL conversation about self-care and friendships. You’ll leave with some essential tools to help you create healthy boundaries in your friendships and most importantly, you’ll learn how to best support your own self-care. Whether you’re looking for ways to be a better friend or trying to figure out how to let a friendship go, let this workshop be your roadmap as you navigate it all. We broke this workshop into 5 parts:
- How do you define self-care?
- Who is in your Esteem Team?
- Creating a love list
- Knowing what you need
- Moving forward in your friendships
As always, you have the option to watch them all or pick which topic feels best for you today.
1. How do you define self-care?
2. Who is in your Esteem Team?
Your Esteem Team is the people in your life who truly see you for who you are and have your back.
Start by writing your name in the center circle. In the next circle, write your go-to people who are closest to you. It could be 1 person, or it could be a few. In the outer circle, write the people who are orbiting around you— maybe it’s friends you haven’t been in touch with, but would like to.
There is zero judgement in this exercise. Give yourself the time and space to think about the quality of your relationships, and assess which voices you want to tune into and honor, and which ones you may not want to hear from.
3. Creating a love list
Take a moment to think about and write down what you love. What do you love to do? What brings you happiness? What makes you feel refreshed? Write it all down, and come back to it when you need a refresher on how to create and maintain your self-care routine.
4. Knowing what you need
You’re not a mind reader, and neither are your friends. Different feelings or situations call for different methods of support, and it’s important that your friends know how they can best support you. Use this exercise as a way to identify what you need most at different times. Share it with your friends and ask them to do the same of you.