The Self-Care Mindset

CHAPTER 11Self‐Awareness

“How am I in there right now?”

“It feels like ants inside.” That's what my dad said to the doctor when we went in for a check‐up after being in remission for a couple of months. “I think the cancer is growing again; it feels like ants inside.” The doctor smiled with a look of confusion and dismissal, and with a small hint of laughter in his voice replied, “That's probably not the case, but we can take a scan if you'd like?” When he came back to tell us that the cancer was indeed growing again, he apologized for rejecting the notion that my dad could feel it as he'd never met anyone with such an awareness of that felt sense inside.

When most people think of self‐awareness, they either connect it to career pursuits like knowing what they're good at, passionate about, or where they have limitations. But one aspect of self‐awareness that's often overlooked is taking the time to heighten our whole body awareness from the inside out.

Many of the people I've met over the years in coaching have become numb to their body awareness because their relationship with their body is often not very kind, or at least, not very curious. The relationship falls somewhere between body‐shaming and anger because we often feel that our bodies aren't living up to our—or society's—expectations. The reality is that we need our body to take care of us as much as our body needs us to take care of it. We must learn to work as a team with our bodies.

But when's the last time you ...