E62 Self-care for busy people: Productivity demands recovery

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Mayo Clinic On Human Optimization

Episode 62: Self-care for Busy People: Productivity Demands Recovery

Release Date: June 17, 2026

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Overview

This episode focuses on demystifying self-care for high-achieving, busy people. The discussion explores the persistent tension between the modern demand to “do more” and the rising tide of awareness about the need for rest, wellness, and recovery. Dr. Christopher Camp (Host; Sports Medicine Surgeon for the Minnesota Twins) interviews Dr. Amy Oxentenko (Vice Dean of Practice at Mayo Clinic, educator, researcher, and avid distance runner) to clarify misconceptions about self-care, identify barriers (internal and external), and offer actionable strategies that are realistic—even amid the busiest of schedules.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Definition of Self-care & Why We Need It

• Self-care as Investment, Not Indulgence
  • Dr. Amy Oxentenko: “I think about self care as that investment in ourselves so that we can bring our best self to the other people that we're leading, serving, helping to take care of.” (02:45)
  • Key Insight: Self-care isn’t about selfishness or indulgence; it’s a means to show up for your work, loved ones, and life with your "battery" full.
• “Giving the world the best of you, not what’s left of you.” (03:28)
• Performance Benefit Beyond Burnout
  • Self-care is often misunderstood as a burnout antidote, but actually supports ongoing performance, productivity, and cognitive sharpness. (08:53, 40:29)
  • Quote, Dr. Camp: “Is getting by how you want to live your life? ... Should you not be trying to actively run towards thriving and flourishing?” (10:16)
• Individualization
  • Self-care looks different for everyone, driven by individual needs, personalities, and life phases. (11:00)

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2. Common Misconceptions & Where We Get It Wrong

• Self-care is NOT:
  • Comfort seeking behavior or numbing distraction (04:56)
  • Something you need hours to do daily (18:55)
  • A selfish act (04:08)
• Misconceptions:
  • That self-care is only for spa days and treats.
  • That self-care is “soft,” “selfish” or “luxurious.”
  • That it requires large time investments.
  • That it’s something you must “earn” after accomplishing hard tasks (21:17)
• Barriers:
  • Guilt: Particularly among parents; guilt around taking time for oneself (20:18, 14:14).
  • Perception: Fear of judgment from colleagues or family (18:55).
  • Efficiency & Overload: Those with poor time management or overloaded plates may struggle (14:14).
• Personality Types at Risk:
  • Young parents; time-inefficient people; “high drivers” who chronically prioritize work; those in service roles with low self-worth (25:30).
• Pitfalls of “Quick Fix” Self-care:
  • Activities like scrolling social media, binging TV, or habitual comfort eating may give short-term euphoria but ultimately leave you depleted or guilty (22:20, 23:34).

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3. Downsides of Neglected Self-care

• Short & Long-term Costs:
  • Lower resilience, increased struggle to handle day-to-day challenges, increased risk of burnout, lower engagement, poor relationships, and decreased performance (06:34, 08:53, 43:40).
• Dr. Oxentenko: “When I’ve looked across the spectrum at colleagues... if I see someone who has neglected their self-care, I feel like they’re just less able to handle those day-to-day challenges.” (06:45)

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4. Self-care is Not Always “Easy”

• Sometimes self-care is hard: going to bed early, having difficult conversations, or setting boundaries can be acts of self-care. (14:10)
• Dr. Camp: “Some of the best self-care is actually quite challenging and quite difficult to do.” (14:10)

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5. Framework for Self-care: The Plate Analogy (27:43)

• Dinner Plate:
  • All required work and family responsibilities.
  • Plates differ in size/depth—avoid comparison traps.
• Water Glass (Essentials):
  • Absolute necessities (family, health, exercise, faith).
  • Without these, you can’t handle what’s on your plate—self-care fits here.
• Dessert Plate:
  • Discretionary, pleasure activities—social media, TV, treats.
  • OK in moderation, but shouldn’t crowd out essentials or key responsibilities.

Dr. Oxentenko: “That plate is really what is required... You can control in a way how full that plate is. Then there’s the water glass—your essentials... self care fits into that water glass. And then the dessert plate—that’s the quick-hit, pleasurable stuff.” (27:43–30:41)

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6. Practical, Realistic Strategies for Busy Lives

• Small Investments Matter:
  • “Self care can come in small little pieces that can have significant dividends in the end.” (00:02, 18:55, 37:33)
• Schedule It:
  • Treat important self-care like any other priority, schedule it intentionally (34:31, 35:31)
• Be Adaptable:
  • Embrace in-the-moment “self-care snacks”—five minutes here and there, prepared with gear for spontaneous activity (37:33)
• Integrate with Others:
  • Combine self-care with relationship building (e.g., running with your daughter), for dual benefits. (35:31, 35:57)
• Micro-Moments:
  • Taking a short walk, deep breaths, closing your eyes for two minutes—all count (37:33).

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7. Pillars/Foundations of Self-care

• Sleep, Movement, Nutrition:
  • These are inseparable from effective self-care and optimization. Better sleep, movement, and nutrition contribute directly to energy, cognition, and resilience (38:08–40:29).
  • Dr. Oxentenko: “Now for me, sleep is a priority because I see how much more I’m coming to work with every day than I did in the past.” (39:44)

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8. When Life Gets Overwhelming

• Is It OK to Pause Self-care?
  • “If you have a short pause, as long as there’s an end... But once you start to neglect it, I think it’s easier then to neglect it more and more...” (40:56)
  • Dr. Camp: “Dial it down, but don’t turn it off.” (42:01)

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9. Personal Examples

• Dr. Oxentenko shares learning self-care the hard way during young motherhood and early career; now schedules running early with her daughter and adapts micro self-care moments to stay fueled. (15:12–17:46, 34:31, 35:57)

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10. Call to Action / Challenge (45:39–50:01)

• Five Categories of Self-care:
  Physical, Mental, Emotional, Relational, Spiritual
• In each category, choose ONE thing to either add or eliminate (don’t try to do everything at once).
• Physical: Take 10-min walks; schedule routine care; prep healthy snacks.
  Eliminate: Late-night screen time; sugary drinks; processed snacks.
• Mental: Write top 3 priorities; turn off phone notifications; set news boundaries.
  Eliminate: Beginning day with emails/social; trying to mentally remember everything; overthinking future.
• Emotional: Practice slow breathing; notice your emotions as information; celebrate small wins.
  Eliminate: Pretending you're fine; self-judgment for emotions; only noticing what’s wrong.
• Relational: Send encouraging texts; spend time with positive people; set boundaries.
  Eliminate: Half-listening; overcommitting; surface-level conversations.
• Spiritual: Reflection/prayer; serve someone else; schedule rest.
  Eliminate: Rushing; taking blessings for granted; isolating spiritual life.

Dr. Camp: “Pick one of those five categories... choose one thing you want to add or eliminate. Keep it simple, start small, and once you nail that you can add on afterwards.” (49:38)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Self care is giving the world the best of you, not what’s left of you.” – Dr. Oxentenko (03:28)
• “It's not about being selfish. It's about being better for others.” – Host (03:06)
• “Some of the best self care is actually quite challenging and quite difficult to do.” – Dr. Camp (14:10)
• “Everyone’s plate is different—avoid the comparison trap... Self-care should fit into your essentials.” – Dr. Oxentenko (27:43)
• “You don’t have to earn self care—they really deserve and investing in their own self care is really important.” – Dr. Oxentenko (45:20)
• “Dial it down, but don’t turn it off.” – Host (42:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Definition of self-care: 02:45–03:59
• Misconceptions explored: 04:08–06:34
• Downsides of neglect: 06:34–10:16
• Individualization & modeling: 10:16–13:37
• Self-care is NOT always easy: 14:10–14:41
• Personal story: 15:12–17:46
• Framework (plates analogy): 27:43–31:12
• Scheduling/self-care snacks: 34:31–37:56
• Foundations (sleep/nutrition): 38:08–40:29
• Is it okay to skip?: 40:56–42:05
• Challenge/call to action: 45:39–50:01

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Takeaways

• Self-care isn’t selfish; it’s foundational.
• Start small: Even two minutes count. Micro-moments are valid.
• Personalize: Figure out what self-care means for YOU.
• Subtract as needed: Sometimes clearing your plate is as powerful as adding.
• Model for others: Your habits empower those around you—in both work and home.

Final Word by Dr. Amy Oxentenko:
“Self care is not selfish and...it’s an investment in their future state. They don’t have to earn self care—they really deserve and investing in their own self care is really important.” (45:20)

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[End of summary]

Transcript

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

You don't need to have hours per day to invest in this. Self care can come in small little pieces that can have, you know, significant dividends in the end.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

This is Mayo Clinic on Human Optimization, a podcast where we break down the science of human potential to help you understand how purpose driven effort leads to

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

high level performance and long term well being. I'm Dr. Christopher Camp, Director of High

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Performance for the Minnesota Twins and a sports medicine surgeon with Mayo Clinic. Self care is one of the most commonly used but poorly understood concepts today.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

For some people, it brings to mind

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

indulgence, luxury or performative wellness culture.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

For others, it feels selfish, soft or unrealistic. However, self care when done properly as

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

actually helps fuel us to be our best selves and will maximize our performance gains and achievement. Our expert guest with us today is Dr. Amy Oxentenko. She's the Vice Dean of Practice and Vice Chair of the People and Culture Committee at Mayo Clinic. She's an educator, researcher, leader and avid

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

distance runner who credits much of her

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

success to intentional self care practices.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

And the three big questions we have today with Dr. Oxintenko are number one,

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

what exactly is self care and why do we need it?

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

Question number two, what do we commonly

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

get wrong when it comes to taking care of ourselves?

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

And then in section three, our big

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

question is what practical, realistic strategies can we use to take care of ourselves amid our crazy busy lives? Well, Amy, thank you so much for joining us today. Very excited to talk about this.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

This is one of my favorite types of topics because I feel like this

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

is one that seems pretty straightforward and

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

clear, but there's so much controversy around it. And I know there's a lot of people who don't like the concept of self care because they feel that it's so indulgent or impossible to achieve. There's others who think that it's absolutely critical to their success. They can't get by without it. So we have very polarized views on this which in my mind seems a little unnecessary. So hopefully we can bring all that together and sort of come up with some clear definitions that can be really helpful for folks.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I hope so. That'd be great.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

All right, so let's start with that.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So how do you define self care in a way that's practical and useful for people?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think about self care as that investment in ourselves so that we can bring our best self to the other people that we're leading, serving, helping to take care of. It's that investment we're Making in ourselves. So I think that's an important way to phrase it rather than, like you said, the indulgence side, which people often, you know, misconstrue.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And I like that you said it's how we take care of ourselves. We invest in ourselves so that we can bring our best selves to others. And I think that second part of the definition is what so many people miss because they think, oh, this is just about me and making me feel good and taking care of myself. It's like, well, yes, you gotta fill your cup up so that you can then help and contribute to other people 100%.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Yeah, yeah. In fact, I heard a definition once that I thought was so good. It's, you know, self care is giving the world the best of you, not what's left of you. And that's so true. When you think about, obviously in medicine, oftentimes people do sometimes show up drained. And so I think rephrasing it about, you know, we're coming to work to care for patients, to care for others, we want to put our best foot forward in doing so. It's really hard to do that when your battery's on empty, your fuel tank is on empty.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So let's talk about some of these misconceptions around it. So why is self care often misunderstood as being either indulgence or laziness or unnecessary luxury?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think part of it is just in the titling self just by terminology makes it seem like we're only focusing on ourselves and not others. Many people say self care is not selfish. Again, it's the way that you have to think about how it's helping others, not just yourself. I think is the way, again, if it's reframed in that way, maybe we can get away from the idea that people have that self care is sitting at a spa all day and just pampering yourself, which there's nothing wrong with that. That is for some people an important part of self care. But that's just a very limited piece for many people.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

You're right. I think one of the misconceptions is that it's basically just being comfortable, trying to make yourself comfortable. So what's the difference between self care and just simple comfort seeking behavior?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think of self care as kind of the long term investment. Whereas if you're taking care of yourself today and investing in those activities and structures that give you kind of that reset for the long haul, you know, that's what it's all about. I think these other pieces of comfort seeking in My mind those might be the quick fixes. They feel really great in the moment and again, we need some of those. But a lot of quick fixes don't really come to the root of what's causing perhaps the lack of self care or the, you know, neglect of taking care of yourself. So I think it can be an and, but it needs to be balanced very carefully. It's, it's no different in my mind than we get a paycheck every two weeks and part of that off the top is putting it in your investment portfolio. To me, that's what self care is investing in the long term. Yes, you have whatever's left over and you might go and buy some fun toy or tool that you wanted, that's that quick fix. But that's not gonna last you the longevity of your career to bring sustained happiness, wellness, emotional support, et cetera. So I think again, going back to the misconception about defin, so many people think of self care as those quick fixes.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

I love that analogy of the investment. You see, if you think about why we invest in retirement, it's so that we can hopefully make life a little simpler for our future self.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Exactly.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

From a financial perspective.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Exactly.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

Self care.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

I haven't thought about it this way, but you're exactly right. It's sort of doing the same thing. It's like, what are the things I can do now to make my day to day lives and activity easier on my future self?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

All right, what if we don't take care of ourselves? What are some of the, maybe the obvious downsides people should be aware of and then maybe some of the less, less well known downsides.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

It's a little bit tricky when I state this because you know, we think about burnout and burnout is so prevalent. And I think it's also important though, you know, much of burnout that we see with people around us in healthcare is not because necessarily they haven't had appropriate self care. It's often because of, you know, other, whether institutional or systemic issues that are impacting their day to day experience in that workplace. But I think self care gives you the tools in my mind to handle those tough experiences that we're gonna have in healthcare, those tough days making challenging decisions. And so I think when I've looked across the spectrum at colleagues, at trainees, in the various roles that I've had, if I see someone who has neglected their self care, I feel like they're just less able to handle those day to day challenges. And again, that can then lead to burnout. Not that it's the cause of burnout, but I think it builds a resiliency sort of piece that's really important. Again, not that resiliency is the antidote for impacting the systemic issues, but I do think it does help go in with a mindset of a can do type of attitude, which I think is really important.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

That's a great way to phrase that because I think we do think about self care as an antidote to burnout. One option for that. So I think a lot of people will say, well, I'm not burning out, so I don't need to do this. But I actually think self care, not only is it just for when you reach the dramatic fall off the cliff sort of emotional, mental, physical exhaustion, burnout phase of life, but, but it's also, wherever you are now, there are performance benefits. So even if you're far away from burnout and you're feeling great, you're feeling engaged, there are still performance and productivity benefits to taking care of yourself as well. So can you talk a little bit about that, how self care really supports both wellbeing and performance?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

To me it feels like synonymous with whether it's your smart device that tells you your body battery is low, you're starting the day on low, or you're getting in your, in your automobile. You know, if you have a typical gasoline containing automobile and you see your tank is already empty at the beginning of a busy drive or a long drive, you know, how are you going to have that energy and that throughput to really bring your best self that day? Very different that I think if you have invested in yourself, your battery feels fully charged going into the day. I think there's just a different level of performance you will probably see from those individuals. And, and I think we've all seen that, right? With colleagues who've had a lot going on and they come to work and they look exhausted and you think, wow, it's gonna be a hard 10 to, you know, eight to 10 hour day with an exhausted body battery. So I think thinking about that performance and oftentimes you're right, people may think I'm doing fine, I don't need this. I can probably reflect on times of my career where I would have thought I don't need, you know, attention to this, I'm not burnt out. But sometimes when we move beyond that and then we dedicate time to self care and we look back and we think, wow, I probably could have performed so much better struggling had I acknowledged what I really needed to invest in back then.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

It's very easy for us to say, I'm not burned out, I think I'm doing okay, or I'm fine or I'm getting by. So the follow up should be, is getting by how you want to live your life? Is that really what you want to do? So should you not be trying to actively run towards thriving and flourishing and performing at a high level? And I think self care may be the thing that can help people. Turn that from I'm just trying to survive mentality to I'm actively pursuing greatness, I think can be really helpful. Earlier you mentioned, you mentioned spa days and that's it for some people, but not for everybody. So can you tell me how different self care looks for different individuals?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Yeah, it is absolutely different for each one of us. We all have different things that spark our interest, fuel us, relax us, those sorts of things. Probably you get 10 people in a room and we'd all have. If we had to list the top three things that we would invest in our self care, they might be vastly different. And some of that is the pace that each of us like to move at. Right. You know, a lot of people do meditation, journaling. Those are not things that I find relaxing to myself, to be honest, because of just the pace that I like to do things. So I like to do things that, you know, burn off energy and burn off, you know, steam and allow me to really think more clearly. So I think just understanding that your self care menu might look very different than mine. And that's okay. That's absolutely okay. I don't think we should force our self care priorities on someone else if it doesn't align with them. On the other hand, I think this is where role modeling can be really valuable. If someone sees, let's say a colleague or a leader taking care of themselves, suddenly gives them permission to do the same. And you've probably heard the saying, culture is caught, not taught. And I think with self care, it's part of that as well. If people see what others are doing and they see how helpful that investment of self care is, then they may want to emulate that behavior and see, gosh, I feel like things are spiraling for me and I don't have good control over my day and I feel like I never have the time to charge my battery and they see other people successfully doing it, then I think it opens up a spirit of inquiry like, where do you find time to do that? How do you make the time? That's the million dollar question that most people ask.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And I think the positive synergy there is very powerful. You know, if you and I are on the same team and I see you taking care of yourself and then you're showing up at a higher level.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

That then inspires me and gives me permission to do the same. So I show up at a higher level, which then also benefits you because you're, you're a member of the team as well. So when everybody on the team's performing at a higher level, we, we, we all win.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I've heard from a lot of individuals as they're coming up in their career ladder or their early career journey of is it an or, you know, do I follow my career aspirations, you know, or do I also enjoy these things I love to do outside of the work? And that should be an and. And I think they're more likely to be successful in their career pursuits if they find that that ability to do both and not have to feel like they're sacrificing a piece of them.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So I think a lot of this really comes down to self awareness and sort of figuring out, okay, what are your goals? Are you somebody who wants to achieve and perform and also be well? That's possible. You need to be aware of that. You need to make that declarative statement, this is what I'm seeking. And then you need to intentionally figure out how you're going to do it. But that's going to be different for everybody. I know some of the stuff that you do for self care and that sounds like punishment to me, but that's okay. That works for you, right?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Exactly.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

But that also gets to this notion

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

of this being it's too luxurious or it's too soft or it's too indulgent. I think self care actually sometimes is hard because sometimes self care is doing the difficult thing. It's going to bed early when you want to sit and scroll on your phone, or it's deciding, hey, I'm going to fix this broken relationship or I'm going to go, man, have this difficult conversation with somebody or I'm going to set this boundary. So it's not always easy. In fact, I think some of the best self care is actually quite challenging and quite difficult to do.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

I agree.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So let's jump into our second section here. We're going to talk about how we commonly mess this up and where we often get it wrong. So I'd like to hear a little bit more about you. So you're obviously hard, charging, successful striver, accomplished person, have you always had a good handle on this taking care of yourself philosophy. Or did you learn some of this the hard way?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I mean, I think probably many of us have learned it the hard way. I remember my earlier career self when I was first coming on faculty. My husband and I had three young kids, age three and a half and under. He's also a physician. At the time he worked out of town so I was juggling all of the childcare, drop off, pickup and it was just intensely busy. I do think in hindsight that created an efficiency system in me that I think has been beneficial long term. But I mean, I think back to those days and I really feel like there was a lot of my self care that was sacrificed, you know, and part of that was because of priorities that I made as my kids were growing up. I didn't want them to see me working on a talk at home or a paper. So I saved all of that for after they went to bed, which meant very late hours and burning the midnight oil, sacrificing on sleep. And at the time I thought, oh I, I'm fine, I'm going to work every day and I am still getting my work done. When I look back I think how in the world did I do that, to be honest? And again, it's the time, the moment you have to juggle those things as you do. But I think it really now looking back and as I meet with junior colleagues who are in very similar situations, I don't have an easy answer for them. It's not like here's a switch you just need to flip and everything will suddenly get better. But I think, you know, when I look back I think, well, maybe I should have adjusted the number of things that I had on my plate. Maybe if I could have dialed that down for a little bit of time, could I have carved out a little bit more time to care for self that would have made the days a little bit more manageable possibly. I have always gone through life of kind of a no regret sort of thing. So I don't look back saying I would necessarily change anything. But I think I would have probably just come to work probably more fueled and energized and ready to tackle the day, you know, in a different sort of space. Had someone told me, you know, maybe say no to this and prioritize this for yourself again. I think it goes back to that early conversation we had that, that almost felt selfish to me just because I felt like, you know, you're, you're told to be successful in your career and really invest in that space. So I think honestly, it's probably not been until the last seven, ten years or so that maybe that early efficiency of that really busy schedule now has paid off. My kids are older, they're out of the house. Suddenly I'm like, wow, I have all

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

this time, this bandwidth.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Yeah. And so again, I think cultivating those interests and those relationships with others early on, now that you have some more of the time and the space to do that, is really, really important as we think about what we're looking to do in the latter part of our career. So.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So I think there's a few things in there. And you're right. Like oftentimes our circumstances are often beyond our control. And. And a lot of folks may be in a position where they just think, listen, I've got so much going on, I can't do this. I just don't have the time for it. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But I would say everybody can do something. You know, do, do the best you can with what you have where you are right. And you may not be able to be perfect at it, but you can almost certainly improve, at least fix your mindset around it. So that, that's one.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

A second is. I agree. Like, we, we've all learned from doing this the wrong way for a period of time. So if you're somebody who's sitting there and you're really struggling with this, don't beat yourself up there. There are lessons to be learned in the mistakes. So give yourself some grace to get through it. And there are phases of life where at times it's going to be harder, at times it's gonna be better. But there's almost always something we can, we can do to improve it. We've talked about a few misconceptions already, but I'd like to hear any other common misconceptions you see people have about self care.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think one is that people maybe are worried that people will perceive them in a different way again, maybe having priorities that don't align with maybe the person that they're leading under or those sorts of things. So I think sometimes there's a concern about perception and being open and transparent about those things that you're doing for your self care. I think probably another misconception people may have is they view it as such a huge investment in time. Like, if I'm gonna do self care, I need hours a day for this. And really, self care can come in small little pieces. And again, those Small pieces of investment of time will build up so you don't need to have hours per day to invest in this. These can be small things that can have significant dividends in the end. So I think addressing some of those issues when I'm in panel discussions with, you know, largely a lot of women in medicine who will struggle with some of this early on when they have young children and young fathers do as well, I'm sure, is, you know, how to fit that in. And then we'll probably get to this. How to overcome that guilt when you have so many other responsibilities and somehow there's this concern and misconception that you're neglecting something else in order to focus on your own self care.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So guilt was actually where I wanted to go next. You set that up perfectly. And I think that there's so much guilt around this for people. And I kind of understand it, but also I don't. I think that people feel guilty because they think they're doing too much for themselves. But I think if you can flip that switch and recognize that, wait a minute, I'm taking care of myself so that I can then invest in others, ultimately this is a gift you're giving back to the world. It's not just about you. But I really think guilt is a huge limiter for so many, many of us.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Agree. Agree. Okay.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And in addition to guilt, I think there's often people who think that they have to earn their self care. And so I see that done in a couple of ways. Sometimes I'll say, people will say, well, if I'll do this really challenging and hard or difficult thing, then I'll allow myself 15 minutes to take care of myself. So they're almost trying to like barter with themselves. What are the potential pitfalls in that approach?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I mean, you may never get to that point where you have time to take the self care. Right. I mean, whatever that behemoth thing that you're taking on and hopefully rewarding yourself at the end, that big project up front may just continue to grow and fill that space. So I always tell people to flip that narrative. How can you do that investment of yourself upfront? Because then you're going to be more equipped to tackle that big project. So I think flipping that script, I think is important. And many people again, have to get over the guilt of that feeling like this has to come as the reward at the end, rather the investment at the beginning. And so I think that's a really important concept for people when they're trying to figure out how to fit this in their day.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

One of the things I struggle with, and I think a lot of others do as well, is that we often think just because an activity is low energy that it helps with recovery for us. But I think that's not always the case. So what happens when people confuse sort of numbing distraction or indulgence with actual self care?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

You know, I think there, let's say, go back, you know, six years ago during the pandemic, there were a lot of individuals who found comfort from social media because we were so disconnected from each other when we were isolated. And they felt that connectedness, which I think was helpful, which over time has changed. And now you hear how spending time scrolling on any social media platform, while there may be these quick little euphoric fixes, I think it is then perhaps negatively impacted by the equal balance of the contrary. To me, this is almost like dessert. We would love to have dessert every meal, right? But that's probably not healthy for us. It's probably not well advised. Just like doing too much of the, you know, TV series, binge watching or social media or these sorts of things. They may feel like they're giving us joy in that moment. But then when you look back after, wow, how much time did I spend on that thing and what have I really gotten out of it? I think is just an important perspective. And can you say no to things once they have somewhat taken over your life? That's the piece that's really important and prevented you from doing the things that are really essential to getting by.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And I think some of these activities afterwards, we often realize that and then we feel guilty, oh, I just wasted three hours or what, you know, six hours or however much time. So then you're sort of in this guilt, shame spiral. So then you, because of the guilt, you feel like, well, I've wasted that time, I can't take care of myself, I've got to go do something productive. So then you do something that is, you know, so now you've done multiple things that are not helpful for your self care, so you're putting yourself in a worse position to start with.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

And then you think, well, self care is not helpful because I didn't get anywhere. But it's really categorized.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

You weren't doing the right thing.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Exactly, exactly.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

All right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Are there certain types of people or personalities that really struggle with this more than others?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I feel like young parents in general struggle with this and it comes back to that guilt of any time that they're investing in themselves. Is time away from their children. And there's a guilt that's really hard for them to get over. And I've lived that. So I completely appreciate that. I think other people who are just not efficient with their time, they can struggle, right? They're spending all of their time in their in basket and managing these sorts of things that they feel like they can never dig out to create that time. So I think that can be a challenge. And then I think, you know, really those high driving individuals who like we talked about, are always feeling that they need to be working on something career related and they're always looking for that next sort of milestone in their career. You know, I wonder if they have a hard time identifying self care just because again, maybe that's not their priority in that moment and again that's their priority. But I've seen individuals like that, you know, not pace themselves and then they get to a certain point of their career and you know, they just either they burn out or they feel like I don't have those relationships and those other things to, you know, to fall back on that really bring me joy.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

That's a great list. And I've also seen it, I think in people who their job or profession has them in any sort of service industry or giving, you know, so if you're somebody whose primary role is to take care of others, teachers, nurses, dentists, anybody, mechanics, whatever, if you're providing service to others, oftentimes you get so focused on others you think that you're not worthy. So I think those that are predominantly service oriented and also folks who may struggle with self worth as well.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

That's true.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Can self care be overdone? So can we get too much of a good thing?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Oh, I absolutely think that's possible. Again, if it is getting in the way of you getting done your daily work related tasks that are part of your job description or job expectations, or you're neglecting your relationships either in your family, friends, because you're spending so much time doing some isolated activity that takes you away from those things that really are your again, day to day kind of expectations and requirement that can be a bad thing. So I think having a the insight to be able to say is this impacting my ability to get things done? And then also having an openness by and from those people around you, if they say hey, I think you're spending a lot of time on this, they're probably not saying that unless they really see how it's perhaps negatively impacting. So I think it can be overdone. And that's just inventorying. Am I getting done what I have agreed and taken on and if not, where do I need to reset things? And maybe it's because your plate is too full and that's why. Maybe it's because you need to readjust there. Maybe you're not doing too much self care, but you've taken on too many other things.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

As you think about this in your life, do you have kind of a model or framework that can kind of help us understand what are the components of self care? What are the different areas and things that I need to be thinking about?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Yeah. So when I've, when I've spoken on, on this topic in various settings, I put up this analogy and this visual that people should think about. You know, think about your dinner plate, you know, your dinner plate. Every one of us has a different plate, different size, different depth. And so we can't compare across. I can't look at your plate and say you have so much more on your plate, how come I can't handle that? So we all have differing plates. So not to be victim to that comparison trap, but that plate is really what is required of you for your work responsibilities and your family responsibilities. And so you can control in a way how full that plate is. Right. How many things you're saying additionally yes to at work that maybe you should have said no to. And that plate is eventually going to get high enough or full enough that if you keep saying yes, things will either fall off that plate, meaning the quality of what you're doing is going to suffer, or given both work and family exist on that plate, something is going to be sacrificed. So that's what you need to be able to manage every day. Then there's the water glass. I watch a lot of survival type of shows. You can't exist after 24 hours without water. So these are your essentials. These are the things that without them you can't even come close to even addressing the things that are on that dinner plate. So these things in the water glass may be different for each one of us. Right. For many people it will be time. With family, it will be taking care of their health, their exercise. For some people it's faith. These are the things that are going to equip them to manage the day to day sort of expectations and responsibilities. And so I think that's where self care fits into that water glass because again, without it it's gonna be really hard to manage those day to day things. And then earlier I mentioned the dessert plate again the dessert plate, we'd all love it. Dessert is amazing. We'd love it at every meal. But if we have too much of it, it's gonna impact again how we can address the things on our plate. So the dessert plate, in my mind are the social media platforms. They can give you, like you said, that euphoria in a quick sense, but not a sustainability. This is where TV watching all of these things again, not that they're bad, but you have to be able to modulate them because without it, the other two things are going to be disrupted. So that's always sort of the position that I think about, is I have an opportunity, I look what's on my plate, can this fit on my plate? And if not, what needs to move off my plate before I can do that? If I do this, then what's gonna happen with that water glass? Is my water glass getting empty? Because I haven't had the time. Everything I've taken on, to be able to address self care and the things that are most important to me. So I think that can help with a framework that it keeps things in three different buckets. To be able to figure out which one needs to go down, which one needs to come up, where do I need to find some additional balance?

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Oh, that's great. I like that analogy, and I think you've said that very well, and hopefully that'll hit home for everybody. I like that you added the dessert plate in there because you're telling people you don't have to eliminate all of this stuff. It's okay. Just do it with intention, do it with moderation, and also know what works for you. You know, the dessert you like may be a little different than the one that I like. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

Absolutely.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Okay.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

Absolutely.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So now using that framework, how do I know where to start? So let's say I'm somebody who's really never thought about this at all. I'm starting from scratch. Where do I go? What's step number one?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

You first have to identify, you know, what for you are those really important, high priorities in your life. And again, there's no judgment, but we all may have those priorities, may be different. You know, for many people, it's gonna be their family and hopefully their own health and wellness, all those sorts of things. But those are, I think, that inventory of what are your priorities and making sure that you have something in place to protect and address and preserve those relationships, those priorities, I think then you think about what again, what are all of the tasks and responsibilities that you have taken on. Some, some. It's not like you can necessarily, you know, your family is your family. Right. So can't get out of that one. You have those expectations and responsibilities. I think it's more so in the activities that you add on for your family or the activities that you add on on work that are not necessarily part of your true, I don't want to say job description. Right there are those, hey, you want to write this book chapter. Hey, do you want to give this additional talk all those extra things that again, you just have to have a way to have a yes, no sort of algorithm in your head of how you're going to weigh those opportunities that come your way to make sure that you maintain that balance. So I think those are the two areas that I would get started. And then again, you can add in those extra things as you feel like it's not disrupting that balance. That's really important. And then once you have found that balance, you can certainly experiment, try some new things. But knowing that anything else you add something else may need to either come off or give way. And maybe that's okay. Maybe you're at a point in time in your career where you have that additional flexibility or you can start to say no to more things because there's junior faculty that are eager for those responsibilities. And so that's a great way to, to open up some space to do other things.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And I think that's an important point at the end because sometimes self care is adding the things you need to do to take care of yourself. But oftentimes it is subtracting the things you're doing that are detrimental as well. And in reality, oftentimes the subtraction is much more powerful than the addition because then we actually get some time back and we're removing something that's stealing our joy and our flourishing, which I think can be really, really powerful.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Well, maybe just piggyback on that. What's important as we think about, as we get towards the end of our careers and in the retirement phase, if we haven't made these self care investments of relationships and activities that we enjoy outside of work, what's going to sustain us in those later years? Right. So developing those relationships and not having those be the things that you peel off or sacrifice early on, those things will pay, you know, pay it forward later on when you've developed and invested in others, invested in those relationship, invested in those hobbies that you really enjoy that will sustain you beyond, you know, age 65, et cetera.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Can you tell us for. For yourself, somebody who's super, super busy and got a lot going on, what are some of the things you have found that have been the most effective in your self care? You're somebody who doesn't have a lot of spare time, but you have found ways to manage this. So what types of things work for you?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think the most important thing is just scheduling in my schedule and it's not always structured like that, but there's certain times of the year. For example, starting in a few weeks I'm going to start my next marathon training cycle with my daughter and if I don't have time at it might be five in the morning scheduled to do my daily runs, they may not happen because the day sometimes gets filled with evening activities and other things. So I think scheduling things in is really important if they're a priority for you, but also being open to the in the moment sort of opportunities as well. So if I have a busy week where, gosh, I'm finding a hard time to schedule it in, I will just make sure that I have that adaptability when, if I find a moment of time where I can take advantage of something to do some small amount of self care, having those things at the ready, whether it's running, whether it's reading, whether it's grabbing coffee with a colleague, some of those things are really important.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Two things I want to call out. One of these you mentioned is you running a marathon and you're doing it with your daughter too, which I think you're already the running is, I know, a thing for you that's part of your self care. But then doing it with somebody who you actually enjoy and want to pour into I think is because now you're getting the exercise you want. It's helping with your self care and forming that genuine social connection which so. So doing it with others I think is incredibly powerful and often overlooked.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

And I think we talked early on about the guilt and I think about the earlier years when my kids were younger and I would go out on a run and feel guilty that I'm neglecting them. I'm leaving them with my husband to manage these three small kids. But now seeing as my daughter has gotten older and she's in college and wants to run more with me and wants to do races with me, it has allowed me to look back to say, well those runs that I had away from the house obviously hasn't negatively impacted her perhaps, maybe it's inspired her of how she can incorporate those things in her career going on and not have to sacrifice those. So I think that has been helpful to remove that guilt that I probably had in excess at an earlier phase of my career.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

These kids are always watching.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

They're always watching, always watching.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

And this gets back earlier what you mentioned, even at work, how when you take care of your yourself, you can inspire others to do it. That happens at home with your children. Right. They're going to notice that. Another thing I want to pull out of your last answer was you talked about you don't always have these huge chunks of time. You know, you're not going to get a four hour block where you can go do something extravagant. So sometimes it comes down to these tiny little things that can be really restorative. And recently a lot of people have talked about exercise snacks, how if you don't have time to get to the gym, can you do five minutes, two minutes, whatever can be really helpful just to move your body, get your heart rate up, et cetera. I like the term self care snacks. Now, you know, based on what you said, sometimes all you need is just a minute, two minutes. Just look away from the computer to monitor, close your eyes, take some deep breaths, whatever. But sometimes just doing two to three minutes probably can be really helpful.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Absolutely. When my kids were at that age where, you know, we all have that phase where we're, you know, the uber parent, meaning uber, we're driving them everywhere to all of their activities and again, feeling like we. When can I have my time to do self care? I'm sitting at baseball games or track meets and so I would just have the back of my car equipped with things so I could get that self care snack.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

Right.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I'd throw on some running shoes and run around the baseball fields for whatever length of time until practice was over. So looking for those opportunities and being prepared for them I think is really helpful.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

In addition to self care, what, what role do sleep, movement, nutrition and all, all of those sort of things play in sort of a foundation? Because we talk a lot on here about how all of these different pillars of human performance really overlap with one another. And I think this is another example. What, what are your thoughts?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think to be honest, that has been where it's probably so obvious to everyone else. But I think in the last, you know, five years or so, this has been the most enlightening for me and it's almost like I had this aha moment, which I wish I would have had many years ago.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Don't we all?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

But I think it was when I started training for my first marathon and I was turning 50 and I thought in order to do this with all of the chaos I have going on in my professional and society life, traveling a lot, I realized that as we get older, we're more injury prone. And so just doing a lot of reading, thinking I need to get adequate sleep so that I'm less likely to injure and I'm not gonna be able to get up and do a long run the next day if I'm on fumes. And also how nutrition. You know, many times we've gone through our days in the past of feeling on coffee all day, which is probably not healthy. Right. That's not gonna allow me to perform my best. So that has become, I think, what has attracted me so much to this sort of lifestyle of continuing whatever level of training it is because it has made me much more disciplined about going to bed early. I'm in bed by 9:30 every night because I have to get up early the next day. It makes me very mindful about what have I filled my body with for the day and is it anything that's going to be helpful for next day's performance? I don't think I really thought about those things early on, but now that I see and feel the impacts of those, I mean, I just come to work far more energized than I did even 10 years ago when those things were not top of mind. So now it has totally changed from my earlier career where sleep was an afterthought. Now for me, sleep is a priority because I see how much more I'm coming to work with every day than I did in the past.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Yeah, great. I think we really need to think of ourselves in this sort of holistic, well rounded picture. Even if your goal is just achievement and performance, you're gonna do better if you're sleeping, if you're moving, if you're eating good food and taking care of yourself. So. So really all of this is founded. No matter what your goals are, all of these things are foundational.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

You're just cognitively sharper. I think it's not just physically more apt, but you're just cognitively sharper with those things having been attended to.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Okay, last question here for you. Is it ever okay to intentionally neglect self care? We talked about this earlier where we have some busy times in our lives and some of them just more challenging. Is it ever okay to just say, you know what, right now I'm just not going there, can't do it, won't do it?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

That's a really tricky question. I think it depends on the length of time you're looking for that, you know, turning away from self care. Like you said, you know, people may have a busy week of travel and it may be more challenging to do the things that they have routinely done for their self care. So I think if you have a short pause, as long as there's an end to that period of time where you can say, gosh, I have three really busy days or I have two weeks of busy travel, I'm gonna have to dial things down a little bit. But knowing at the end of that I'm gonna get back to the structure. And as long as you have somewhat of the discipline to be able to do that and not get on this path, that then becomes a spiral where you're neglecting self care all around. So I think you just have to be careful with that because once you start to neglect it, I think it's easier then to neglect it more and more and to get away from healthy habits that maybe you started to develop.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

I like how you said that. So maybe dial it down if you have to, but hopefully only for a defined period of time. And I would say dial it down, but don't turn it off.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Correct.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So even find ways to do those little self care snacks along the way.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Absolutely.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

People are dealing. Life is hard and life is challenging and tragedy strikes and there are times where you think, oh my goodness, I have to take care of my loved one who's got this awful thing going, whatever, like you can do that. But still, you know, find ways to say, okay, I'm going to do this for a period of time and then I'm going to help get myself back on track because I won't be the best caregiver to them in the rest of the world unless I.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Absolutely.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Wonderful. Okay, so I've been taking notes here as we've been talking, and I'd love to take a minute to kind of run through those if I can, and then I'll give you the last word. So we started off with your definition of self care, which I love. It has two parts. It's an investment in ourselves so that we can bring our best selves to others. And I think that's one of the big problems is that people miss the second half of that definition, bringing our best selves to others. And I also like what you said, that we should give the world what is best of you, not what is left of you. So we really need to try to make ourselves as good as we can. So what we're giving to the world is high quality self care is a long term investment. It's not a quick hit or a quick comfort seeking. Some of the downsides of not investing in your self care, higher rates of burnout, lower engagement, lower productivity, poor relationships and decreased performance. And we talked about, sometimes it's tempting to say I'm doing okay or I'm getting by or I'm hanging in there. But then you have to ask yourself is that really what you want or do you want more out of life than that? You also mentioned the point that people will emulate your good behavior. So if you take care of yourself, others will see that your performance is going to go up. They're going to watch what you're doing and then that gives them permission to do the same. Their performance will go up. That goes for co workers and your children at home.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

That's right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Some common misconceptions around self care are that people will judge you if you do it. You think it has to be some huge massive effort or you feel guilty for doing it or you think that you have to earn your self care. And then we also often think that things that are low energy equal recovery, which is not always the case. We all struggle with this. But some people who are particularly at risk are young parents who are at risk for a lot of different things. People who are inefficient with their time, those who have low self worth or those who are in service oriented careers. You gave us a great framework in the third section where you talked about the plate. All the things we have on our plate, but also the essentials in our water cup, the fun stuff we have in our dessert plate. So be very thoughtful and everybody's plate can look very differently and that and that's okay. And then you gave some great tips at the end on how you do this if you're super busy. So add it into your schedule, put it on your calendar, do it with others so you get some genuine social connection. That's sort of a two for one deal. Put priorities in your day. When you have the most control over your day. You have to be adaptable because things change. We talked about doing little micro snacks of self care and remember it's often about subtraction. So it's not always adding new things in. Sometimes it's taking away things that can be really helpful. And then lastly it is highly personalized which I think is good news and bad news. The bad news is there is no one right Way to do it. It's different for everybody. But the good news is you don't have to do what everybody else is doing. You figure out what works for you, make sure you know what's filling your cup up so then you can go fill up the cups of others. So Amy, I'll leave it to you for the last one. So what's the most important thing you want people to take away from our discussion today?

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

I think the most important thing like we mentioned, number one, self care is not selfish and number two, it's an investment in their future state. So I think thinking about those two things and that they, they don't have to earn self care, they they really deserve an investing in their own self care is really important.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Okay, so we always like to end

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

every episode with a challenge or a call to action. And so in this one I think it's helpful to think about it. In those different categories of self care

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

that we listed, so we talked about

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual being. The five categories. In order to help you with this challenge, I'm going to list off some examples in each of those that can be potential targets for our audience. So for each of those categories, I'm going to give you options. 3 things you could potentially add or 3 things you could potentially eliminate. So we'll run through this list and then our challenge at the end is going to be for you to pick one of these five categories that you want to focus on and then pick one thing that you want to either add or eliminate. Don't try to do it all at once, but here are some options to get you thinking and you can also come up with things on your own. In the physical self care category, three potential things you could add take a 10 minute walk after meals or schedule routine medical, dental or eye care. The third, prep one healthy snack or meal option. All right, now three things you could eliminate. Stop late night scrolling that steals your sleep. Number two, stop drinking excessive sugary drinks or alcohol. Number three, stop keeping only ultra processed snacks available. All right, now for mental self care, three things you could consider adding. Number one, write down your top three priorities for the day. Number two, Turn off non essential phone notifications. Number three, Set boundaries around news consumption. Three potential things you could eliminate. Number one, stop beginning your day by reacting to email or social media. Number two, stop trying to remember everything mentally. Instead write it down. Or number three, stop overthinking your entire future all at once. Now in the emotional self care category, three potential things you could add. Number one, practice Slow breathing for one to two minutes every day. Number two Ask yourself what is this emotion trying to tell me?

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

So don't be a judge, be a scientist.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

Number three Celebrate one small win each day. All right, three potential things you could eliminate. Number one Stop pretending you're fine when you're really not. Number two Stop judging yourself for having normal emotions. Number three Stop only noticing the things that went wrong. Now for relational self care, three things you could consider adding Number one Send one encouraging text to somebody today. Number two Spend time with people who energize and challenge you. Number three Set boundaries with toxic or chronically negative interactions and people in your life. All right, three potential things you could remove Stop half listening while distracted. Number two Stop over committing so that you don't disappoint others. And number three Stop keeping all of your conversations at surface level. And lastly, for spiritual self care, three things you could consider adding Number one Spend five minutes in prayer, meditation or quiet reflection each day. Number two Serve somebody else without expecting any recognition in return. Number three Create a sabbath like rhythm of scheduled rest for yourself. Three potential things you could eliminate Number one Stop rushing through life without ever pausing. Number two Stop taking your blessings for granted. And then Number three Stop trying to grow spiritually completely on your own.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Do it with friends. Do it with community.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

So there's a list of potential things you can add or potential things you can eliminate across the five categories. Our challenge for you to remember is going to be pick one of those five categories and then in that category, just choose one of the things you want to add or one thing you want to eliminate. Keep it simple, start small and then once you nail that you can add on afterwards.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

That's right.

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

Amy, thank you so much for joining us.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

Absolutely.

[Dr. Amy Oxentenko]

Thank you for having me.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

If you like this episode, please share it with a friend and leave us

[Podcast Host (Sports Medicine Surgeon, Minnesota Twins)]

a review on your podcast app.

[Dr. Christopher Camp]

It really helps others find the show. Got feedback, a question or a topic idea? Email us at Optimize or leave us a voicemail at 507-538-6272. We might even feature your voice on the show. For more human optimization episodes and resources, check us out online at ce mayo.edu. optimize. Remember long term well being starts with the habits you build today. Live, intentionally perform exceptionally. I'm Dr. Christopher Camp. Thanks for listening.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Producer Voice]

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as medical or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider for any medical questions. The appearance of any guest does not imply an endorsement of them, their employer, or any entity they represent. The views and opinions are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mayo Clinic. Reference to any product, service, or entity does not constitute an endorsement of or recommendation by Mayo Clinic.