Support Yourself with Self-Care
Self-care shouldn’t be another stressor, and it doesn’t need to be just another thing on your to-do list.
While the media makes self-care look like bubble baths and champagne girlfriend getaways – the kinds of luxuries that are too expensive and too time consuming for most of us – that isn’t really what self-care is about.
Self-care means acknowledging that, just like you take care of your loved ones, you also need to take care of yourself. It means acknowledging that you have to make time for preventative care and wellness, instead of putting yourself last until you end up in urgent care or the emergency room. Self-care means all the daily (potentially boring) things like brushing your teeth and flossing, the annual important things (like wellness visits with your doctor, vaccine schedules and updates, and the not-so-fun but essential tasks like mammograms), and the ordinary feel-good things like a relaxing shower, a bedtime that actually leaves you feel rested, and exercise you actually enjoy.
I love teaching about self-care because it keeps me learning and forces me to take good care of myself. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so I work hard to practice what I teach, so that I can honestly teach about what works, what doesn’t work, and what benefits I gain from self-care.
I’ve got a lot of resources already ready to help you on your self-care journey. It’s an honor to be part of your path – and keep me posted how you are, and how I can be of help along the way!
My multimedia courses from The Great Courses, available via DVD and video download, as well as CD and audio download:
How to Stay Fit as You Age
How to Boost Your Physical and Mental Energy
How to Make Stress Work for You
You can also access my Great Courses catalog through Kanopy, often provided free through your local library or university subscription:
The Great Courses now offers Workforce Continuing Education programing:
My teaching on stress and coping is included in the fully online Resiliency in Modern Healthcare. Click here to learn more.
For bite-sized support, I offer 10-day email courses with Highbrow & 10-lecture audio courses with Listenable:
Build Your Best Day on Highbrow (Email)
How to Be Good at Stress on Highbrow (Email)
Mindfulness: Self-Care for Daily Life on Highbrow (Email)
Life in the Time of Burnout on Highbrow (Email)
Build Your Best Day on Listenable (Audio)
How to Be Good at Stress on Listenable (Audio)
Mindfulness: Self-Care for Daily Life on Listenable (Audio)
In 2016, I had the honor of writing to forward to Rosie Bank’s lovely book, “Health Matters: 52 Ways to Get Your Body to Love You Back.
Bonura, K.B. (2016). Foreword. In R. Bank, Health Matters: 52 Ways to Get Your Body to Love You Back (pp. xvii – xviii). Raleigh, NC: Lulu Press.
To get the book on Amazon, click here.
My Blog posts for the American Psychological Association Committee on Aging. (Click here for more about APA-CONA).
Bonura, K.B. (2016). We Get Happier as We Stay Older (As Long as We Stay Fit). Psychology Benefits Society, a blog from the APA Public Interest Directorate. May 11, 2016. https://psychologybenefits.org/2016/05/11/we-get-happier-as-we-get-older-as-long-as-we-stay-fit/.
Bonura, K.B. (2016). It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Inner Athlete. Psychology Benefits Society, a blog from the APA Public Interest Directorate. July 26, 2016. https://psychologybenefits.org/2016/07/26/physical-mental-health-benefits-of-being-an-older-athlete/
Bonura, K.B. (2016). Caregivers Need Care Too: 3 Steps to Self-Care. Psychology Benefits Society, a blog from the APA Public Interest Directorate. November 14, 2016. https://psychologybenefits.org/2016/11/14/caregivers-need-care-too-3-steps-to-self-care/.
Bonura, K.B. (2017). 4 Reasons to Add Dancing to Your Valentine’s Day Plans. Psychology Benefits Society, a blog from the APA Public Interest Directorate. February 9, 2017. https://psychologybenefits.org/2017/02/09/4-reasons-to-add-dancing-to-your-valentines-day-plans/
Selected Publications (Magazines)
Bonura, K.B. (2017). Get Fit Enough: Adjusting the Fitness Bar. The Costco Connection, January 2017, 45. Click here to read the article.
Bonura, K.B. (2017). Stress for Success: Redefining your Relationship with Stress. The Costco Connection (UK Edition), January 2017, 33. Click here to read the article.
Selected Publications (Academic Peer-Reviewed and Invited)
Brandt, T., Rudzinski, C., Walsh, A., Hayden, L., & Bonura, K.B. (2018). Fostering Resilience Through Athletics. SportPsych Works, 6 (1). http://www.apadivisions.org/division-47/publications/sportpsych-works/fostering-resilience.pdf
Bonura, K.B. (2017). Gentle Into That Good Night: A Compassionate Framework of Dementia and Dying. A review of The Fragile Brain: The Strange, Hopeful Science of Dementia. In PsycCritiques, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Vol 62 (26). http://psycnet.apa.org/critiques/62/26/6.html.
Bonura, K.B. (2016). Simple but Not Easy: Mindfulness Practices for Psychological Freedom. A review of Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness: Ancient Path, Present Moment. In PsycCritiques, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Vol 61 (51). http://psycnet.apa.org/critiques/61/51/2.html
Bonura, K.B. (2016). Aging with Health and Happiness: Translating Science into Practice, Intervention, and Everyday Life. A review of Emotion, Aging, and Health. In PsycCritiques, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Vol 61 (31). http://psycnet.apa.org/critiques/61/31/8.html
Bilder, C., Doerr, C., Foss, J., Bonura, K.B., & Galli, N. (2016). Growth Mindset in Sport and in Life. SportPsych Works, 4 (3). http://www.apadivisions.org/division-47/publications/sportpsych-works/growth-mindset.pdf
Bonura, K.B. (2015). Are You Tough Enough? A review of Building Resistance to Stress and Aging: A Toughness Model. In PsycCritiques, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Vol 60(33). http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039347
Bonura, K.B. (2012). If You’re Happy and You Know it (or Not and Want to Know It) … Read this Book. A review of 100 Years of Happiness: Insights and Findings from the Experts, by N. Carlin and D. Capps. In PsycCritiques, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Vol 57(49). http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0030827
In the News:
Yoga for Inflammation, in PopSugar. Click here to read the article.
How exercise can help with mental health, in the Washington Post. Click here to read the article.