Recognizing Your Worth

As you begin this journey toward improving your health, it’s important that you recognize the value of self. Over the course of managing all that life hands you ‒ from relationships, work, health, passions, and challenges ‒ it can be difficult to take time for yourself. At Hinge Health, we support you in taking care of yourself by prioritizing self-love, self-acceptance, self-compassion, and ultimately self-care.

Dr. Kristen Neff describes self-compassion as treating ourselves with the same care and compassion that we would treat a good friend. Self-care in its simplest form includes intentional actions that promote physical, emotional, and psychological health.

Self-care requires an understanding of your self-worth. It also requires time. But you are worthy of the investment. You are worthy of feeling joy. You are worthy of being healthy. And you are worthy of shifting what doesn’t make you feel your best.

You are worthy because you are alive.

When it comes to self-care, it helps to start small and then build upon what feels good. Start by taking one action from the T.I.M.E. mnemonic below and focus on it for a while. If it feels good, try another.

Take T.I.M.E.

T - Thoughts: An essential component of self-care is being mindful of your thoughts and self-talk. Begin by paying attention to your inner voice. What are the thoughts that narrate your choices and activities? Try to turn up the volume on those thoughts. How do they make you feel? How might you soften or redirect the thoughts that don’t make you feel good? Give yourself a squeeze when they don’t make you feel good and keep listening and shifting.

I - Focus on what “I” need: Keep two basic needs in mind: sleep and nutrition. Do you have an effective sleep routine that helps you feel restored in the morning? What does a good sleep routine look like for you? What you eat also directly affects the structure and function of your brain. What can you do to make restful sleep and eating well a priority?

M - Movement: Movement is medicine for the mind and body. It provides countless benefits including impacting mood and helping you access more restorative sleep. What would it take to make even small bits of movement a regular part of your life?

E - Ease - They say laughter is the best medicine and clinical studies actually point to the many physical and mental benefits of laughter. What allows you to feel at ease and relaxed? What brings you joy and makes you laugh? What would it take to add a small moment of ease to your day?

The following words are from a Hinge Health member, who shares how the program has supported her in prioritizing self-care:

“I know that if I were to attempt to start an exercise program independently, without the support offered by Hinge Health, it would have been easy to slough it off and return to my inclinations of overworking and underperforming in the self-care department. My coach has given me encouragement to carve out time to care for myself and my body. This has given me both wonderful direction and ample desire to remain responsible for and committed to my health program. I was able to develop and sustain an exercise program that is manageable for my life. And let me tell you: my back, after nearly a year of pinching, soreness, stiffness, and limited mobility, is truly starting to feel good again. I can't even begin to express how wonderful these feelings of gratitude and relief are to me and I owe this to Hinge Health.”

References

  1. Compassion. (2021, October 26). Retrieved from https://self-compassion.org/

  2. Gómez-Pinilla, F. (2008). Brain foods: The effects of nutrients on brain function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(7), 568-578. doi:10.1038/nrn2421

  3. Louie, D., Brook, K., & Frates, E. (2016). The Laughter Prescription. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 10(4), 262-267. doi:10.1177/155982761455027