This is the all time greatest form of self-care

“Fuck!” I’m 60 feet in the air and my foot slips on an icy branch. My stomach drops. I can’t recover in time so I brace for impact as my body swings towards the trunk of the tree.

Thud.

Now I’m swaying like a sad pendulum as my chainsaw clatters at my side. I have a new bruise to add to my collection, but the only real damage is to my pride.

“Mother fucker!” I shout to the rest of the tree crew below as they laugh. I take a breath, gather myself, and start working my way back out on the branch.

This is what self care looks like. 🤔

That’s because doing scary shit is the world’s all time greatest form of self care.

I’m glad I didn’t know what I was in for when I signed up to be a climber for a major tree care company.

Most of the time, it feels like you’re playing around with your friends. You’re tying knots and swinging from limbs and contorting your body into crazy positions.   

And then there are times when you’re 100 feet in the air on a windy day and you question, can I even do this?  

You fire up a saw with a 30” bar that’s as tall as you are and ask, am I kidding myself?

Tree work is not easy, but you learn in no uncertain terms what you are capable of.

Every day, you get to face something that scares you, and every day, you leave with a feeling of accomplishment.

And once you survive enough scary things, you realize that there isn’t anything that’s truly off limits to you.

You are more confident in yourself and therefore more willing to take risks. And when you take risks, you grow.

That is why if you want to feel amazing for a long time, you have to do shit that scares you.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of taking walks, lighting candles, and getting massages. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these activities and I do them regularly.

But the good feelings I get from these are temporary. And in order to keep feeling good, I have to keep doing those things.

Good feelings that endure come as a result of attempting things you might fail at.

In 2018 I set a goal to squat 200 lbs. I didn’t know how long it would take me or if I’d even be able to do it. But it excited me and scared me.

Achieving that goal after a full year of work gave me confidence that I could achieve what I wanted with enough time, effort, and help.

It’s that confidence that compelled me to apply for my dream job as a professional tree climber.  

And it was through proving myself as a climber that I felt capable of starting my own coaching business in 2021.

You don’t have to squat 200 lbs, climb trees, or start your own business to feel confident.  

You just have to choose something that scares and excites YOU.  

Sign up for a Spartan race. Call up that friend you have a crush on and invite them out. Pick a tall mountain and climb it. Write and perform a slam poem.

If we want to feel truly great, we need more than just temporary relief from our day-to-day worries.  

True self care comes in the form of full, in-your-face reminders that we are alive right now, that we are incredibly capable, and that our worries are actually much smaller than they seem.