What if we told you that we can live better, happier, and simpler lives by making a few adjustments to how we think about self-care? Would you try it?

In this episode, we are talking with Dr.Christine Koh. She’s a music and brain scientist turned multimedia creative! She spent a decade in academia, during which time she was awarded prestigious fellowships from the National Institutes of Health to fund her Ph.D. research at Queen’s University and joint-appointment postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology. Christine was about to become a professor when she decided to hang up her academic spurs in favor of more flexible and independent ventures.

We discuss what so many of us view “protective self-care” as and what it really needs to be to actually benefit us in the long run. Christine also shares with us her breakdown of Self-Care into two distinct parts: Protective Care and Restorative Care. And how they relate to boundaries, toxic relationships, taking a “pause”, and really overall -how we care for ourselves.

In this episode of the No Guilt Mom podcast you’ll learn:

What most people define self-care as versus what we need it to be
What Protective Care is
What Restorative Care is
How maintaining healthy boundaries with others improves our self-care

Resources We Shared In This Episode:

Me and My Friendships: A Friendship Book for Kids by JoAnn Crohn

Christine Koh

Edit Your Life Podcast – A podcast + community to help you edit the unnecessary so you have more room for the awesome.

Hello Relationships Podcast– A podcast to help you focus on common issues in relationships to stop small aggravations from becoming big problems so you can learn to grow and communicate better.

Protective Care vs. Restorative Care – free download from Christine Koh

CNN Friendships Piece

The Washington Post- Why the parental pandemic wall feels so bad right now, and what you can do about it

No Guilt Mom Podcast Episode 026 How to Help Your Tween Navigate Relationships with Phyllis Fagell

CNN- How parents can support kids through (and beyond) the latest wave of anti-Asian American violence

Jessica Turner- The Mom Creative– The Mom Creative is a respected blog for busy women recommending brands and services that help make life easier.

Lydia Denworth

Download the episode transcripts HERE

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