Something New is Emerging: Nurturing the New You (Substack Writings)

In the middle of a rebirth, reinvention, or reset period? Here are some tips for self-care during this time to help you push through to your next level.

If you’re like me, starting anew in a rebirth, reinvention, or reset period, at some point you may feel a sense of newness, tenderness, almost like you’re a young kid again out in the world exposed, with no tools yet. And with that sense, you may feel deeply vulnerable, afraid, and unsure of your footing, even in yourself.

If that happens, fear not; it’s normal. It’s a sign you’ve accomplished some major releases of old beliefs, old woundings, and/or old versions you’ve outgrown. In other words, you’re growing. And now, something new is emerging and needs your nurturing. Because this time is precious like no other. Something tender and new is being born in you — maybe again — and like anything young, it needs love and care to grow strong.

Here are a few things that have helped me care for myself during this time — and might help you too:

Establishing Boundaries When Needed

Boundaries help protect your well-being — physical, mental, emotional. They’re not meant to push people away but are a form of self-care, to keep your well-being intact and grounded in daily life. Use boundaries compassionately and gently for yourself when you need them because you’ll find that you may not have as much capacity to carry as much as you used to. And that’s ok.

Boundaries will help you maintain balance as you adjust to this new cycle. Some boundary examples that are really helpful during this time: emotional and/or physical space, more alone time, time management, limiting social interactions, delegating or releasing challenging tasks, prioritizing what’s important, etc. For me, I found the need to be more protective of my energy and what was emerging (and still do). I knew I had to prioritize more quiet, alone time — finding greater blocks of solo time and limiting social interactions, especially with large groups, which left me overwhelmed and drained.

So setting those boundaries around time and space helped immensely, keeping my well-being and peace of mind intact. So as you explore what boundaries you may need at this time, consider: Are there any parts of my life that I need to establish boundaries around to help me feel safe, steady, and connected with myself?

Cultivating Grounding Practices

When I went through this kind of emerging process, I remember always feeling out of sorts, feeling outside my body, not quite in it or even in the moment, and that caused me to feel overwhelmed easily. What helped me reconnect and recenter was taking up practices that helped me ground both physically and mentally.

Grounding is a practice of helping you calm overwhelming emotions, reduce stress, and reconnect with the present moment by anchoring your awareness to the physical environment. One of the best systems to help you ground I’ve found is nature. I always recommend collaborating with nature on grounding (earthing) practices when you feel outside yourself, like you’re ungrounded or unanchored.

Some examples of grounding practices that help: nature walks/hikes, hugging trees (yes, I do this and it’s a lovely, loving practice), touching grass, sand, soil, water either with your hands or your feet, etc.. Mental grounding practices, specifically to help with your thoughts include meditation (either with eyes closed or open), journaling , breathwork, etc. All these grounding practices help you reconnect to your physical and are immensely helpful for those of us who feel disembodied.

Go Slow, Take Your Time

I write about this often. Going slow is about dialing down your rhythm and pacing so that you can stay connected with yourself and your present rather than in constant chase or overwhelm mode. It’s a way to slow the tide and calm the waters. When you’re in this sense of newness, intentionally slowing down your pace to only what you can handle is a crucial way to maintain balance and well-being.

Some ways to cultivate this ability are to spend time prioritizing what’s important, there’s only so much you can carry at this time. Maybe you only take one of the two projects you were going to lead saving space in your day. Maybe you reduce your social interactions which may disappoint some but ultimately preserves your well-being and conserves your energy. Engaging in slow-down activities like this and others including meditation, restorative yoga, and deep breathing are great mental and physical ways to remind your system to slow down.

Practice Presence in the Small Moments

One tip that might surprise you: staying present in ordinary moments. This is especially powerful when you feel untethered and it’s a deceptively simple way to bring yourself back to the moment by cultivating presence and awareness in the ordinary — like washing dishes, doing laundry, or brushing your teeth. It’s being fully aware as you reach for your toothbrush, grab the toothpaste, watch it come out onto the bristles, and feel them slowly circling and cleaning your teeth. That type of full focus and awareness in the ordinary brings you directly back to the present and helps when you’re feeling outside of your body. This is grounding in action.

Change in Action

This is the change process in progress and it’s bound to be challenging. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have tools (or people) to help you manage it. I’ve shared a few tools here, and there will be many more to share.

Most important thing to remember is to stay open to what you’re experiencing. Allow it to happen and use your tools to keep your well-being intact. Experiment with what works for you to manage what you’re feeling but try not to bottle up, repress or suppress emotions. This is a time of change, and your time to walk through the emergence of something new as you become more of who you’re meant to be or reintroduced to who you were all along.

Congratulations on getting here.

We’re in this together. 🤍