DAY 0
LET'S GET READY!

 1. Download and Print Out Your Self-Care Map (click the button above)

This self-care map is your touchstone during the 5-day challenge to help you stay on track. Each day you'll complete a section on your map, and what you put on your map will be unique to you.

This map will also be something tangible you can use them after this challenge is over to help navigate your self-care.

2. Take "I don't feel like it" off the table.



"I don't feel like it" is a common thought when it comes to self-care. If this thought comes up for you anytime during the challenge, acknowledge it with compassion, but do not let it determine your actions or decisions.

"I don't feel like it" is not a valid reason or excuse to not practice self-care this week. Stay aware of how resistance or excuses might show up during the challenge.

Here are other versions of "I don't feel like it" that might surface: “I don’t want to”, “I can’t do this”, or “I don’t have time for this”

Do not let these limiting thoughts determine your actions. Rather, recognize these thoughts as being a normal part of the obstacles you might face when trying to prioritize self-care, but do not let these be reasons for not practicing self-care.

3. Anticipate possible obstacles and plan ahead.


What might get in the way of you completing this 5-Day Challenge? Take a moment to think about obstacles that might get in your way, and think of possible solutions to overcome these obstacles. It's easier to come up with solutions in advance rather than when the obstacles are happening. 

One of the most common obstacles is simply forgetting to do your self-care for the day. So team up with an accountability partner, set up reminders for yourself on your phone, or leave notes for yourself.

I’ll also be here to give you self-care reminders a few times a day in different ways via email, Facebook, and Instagram. If you’re on these platforms, this is an easy way for me to remind you and keep you on track.


You can also look ahead to see which day this week will be the busiest or most stressful for you. Instead of thinking you might not be able to do self-care on that day, reframe that thought as - your busiest or most stressful day is when you will need self-care the most.

 4. Get an accountability partner and/or invite your friends.



Teaming up with an accountability partner not only increases your chances of success in the 5-day challenge, but can also deepen the experience here. If you don’t have one, you can find an accountability partner inside our Facebook group. I have a post set up there to help accountability partners connect. 

You can also invite a friend or coworker to join you here to be your accountability partner or you can have a small accountability group to help you stay extra motivated. 

And, doing something like this together can be helpful in nurturing your relationships. Doing this with someone you care about can be bonding experience. To invite others, share this link and have them sign up too: https://www.selfcareinstitute.com/challenge/

5. Get to know me!

We can have a more meaningful experience when we're familiar with who is guiding us. So, it might be helpful for you to know why I’m here talking to you about self-care.

Scroll down this page to read my story, where I share how I went from being burned out to founding The Self-Care Institute.

I’m here to let you know that if you are experiencing burnout or stress, if you’re overwhelmed with life, or if you’re having a hard time with self-care, you’re not alone. I've been there too. We often need to relearn how to best care for ourselves as our lives change. That’s what we’ll start working on here. Know that you’re already on the right track just by signing up for this challenge.

So, I ended up taking time off to recover. I traveled to India and lived in an ashram for a month where I learned what disciplined self-care was like. I went back to my hometown of Hilo, Hawaii and I rested. And, I gave myself space to think about what I really wanted in life.

Now, just to be clear, these are not the solutions to burnout I’m going to be talking about in this challenge. Flying across the world and taking an extended time off from work is not always realistic or possible.

Determined to approach life and work in a different way, I started a private practice because I thought having more freedom would help me avoid burnout. But, it only took a few years before burnout returned and again I found myself overworked and fatigued.

So, to deal with burnout this second time, I decided to go back to school and get my masters degree. I felt like a lot of my stress was coming from some of my professional insecurities at the time. Although it seems strange to add a big responsibility when I was already stressed, graduate school gave me direction, structure, and an extra support system.

Graduate school also gave me the chance to study burnout and self-care. I completed my thesis on burnout and self-care, which helped me make personal shifts to find a healthier relationship with my work.

I put a lot of effort into writing my thesis and I didn’t want this to just sit in a library. And, I felt like this information needed to be shared. So I published my thesis as an ebook, and people started buying it. Eventually, many of my readers started contacting me for more self-care support.

I expanded my private practice to include self-care coaching services and my work slowly shifted from working with my music therapy clients to supporting professionals experiencing burnout. This work gave me so much insight into patterns with burnout and stress, and also helped me learn how to best support someone in making positive changes with self-care. 

In 2014, I started giving presentations on self-care and occupational burnout at conferences, and over the years I've presented at international events and workshops.

In 2017, I developed and released Resilience Over Burnout: A Self-Care Program. This is an in-depth online program that helps professionals get out of burnout and stress cycles, addresses the root causes of burnout, and provides a supportive and nurturing space to learn sustainable self-care.

All of this lead me to founding The Self-Care Institute and being here with you right now in this self-care challenge. The mission to help people care for themselves is one that found me, but is also one that I chose because I feel that self-care is a way to contribute to the compassion and kindness in this world.

I'm currently pursuing a PhD in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook University and at the moment I'm here on The Big Island of Hawaii. This has been a tough year for me too, but this has also been a year where everything I've learned about self-care has been a necessity. I've been very grateful to be able to share what I know to help others through a stressful time.  

I’m so glad our paths have crossed.

I'm very grateful to be here with you and I look forward to working with you this week!

- Ami

October 2020