This is my 4-year-old daughter, Mia Belle. I couldn’t help but take her photo before she headed to soccer practice earlier this week, mostly to capture the unique outfit she had carefully curated just for the occasion.
If you know me in real life, then most likely you’ve heard the dramatic tales of our daily battles to get dressed and ready for school each morning. To put it lightly, Mia Belle is…selective when it comes to her clothes.
She wakes up with a strong opinion about what to wear that day, completely disregarding whether or not it is appropriate for the weather or situation (e.g. the sparkly bracelet, long plastic beaded earrings, and Superman headband she’s wearing in the pre-soccer photo).
I used to let her stubbornness get to me, and our morning struggle put me in a funk nearly every day. But recently I decided to loosen my grip, because I finally saw what was really happening here. She wasn’t purposely trying to antagonize me; she simply wanted to express herself.
Self-care is a term that you hear a LOT, especially if you work in a helping profession. Before I started taking my overall well-being really seriously, I laughed off self-care and the stereotypical activities associated with it — taking a bubble bath, getting a massage, etc.
However, not prioritizing self-care has led to some really unfortunate and even scary situations, including going into early labor during my second pregnancy. I’ve experienced several bouts of professional burnout as well, each of which I’ve attributed to a lack of self-care.
During this month of September, taking care of my mental, emotional and physical health is even higher on my priority list than usual. My family is adjusting to the new school year, my husband and I are buying a building (more on that soon!), my private practice is in a season of expansion, and I’m in the middle of writing a book.
So…yeah, self-care is essential right now.
We all have our own definitions, ideas, and maybe even misconceptions of what self-care looks like, so I’m going to share what it is for me at this moment in time and how it’s having a positive effect on my life.
My absolute favorite thing to do when I have any downtime at all is READ. I have been a book nerd my whole life, and now that audiobooks are a thing, I’ve been able to fit in a lot more “reading” than ever before in my adult life (especially since becoming a parent!).
This summer, I’ve made a conscious effort to read more for fun, and I’m pretty proud of the number of books I’ve added to my list so far. In case you are looking for some good reads, here are my favorites so far this summer.
This year, like so many years before, I set out to become a paper planner person. There’s something so appealing about the idea of organizing my life inside of a pretty planner full of fresh paper, but I haven’t been able to follow through with the implementation…until now.
Happy New Year! We are just 3 days into 2019, but so far, I’m pretty enamored with it. This week has been the perfect mix of lazing around the house and making big plans for the new year, and in doing both, I’ve come up with a pretty sizable list of current favorite things.
I heard on a podcast last week that the way you spend New Year’s Eve sets the tone for the new year. I loved that idea, and am applying it to my entire day — which started with my alarm going off at 5:30 am.
Welcome! I’m Rachel Rambach, board-certified music therapist and creator of Listen & Learn Music — educational songs and musical materials for children. I love sharing my work with you, along with my behind-the-scenes creative process, adventures in business ownership, and life as a mom of two.
My Book + Course
This is the book + course that will help you shape your music therapy career in order to make more money and live your ideal lifestyle. Details here.
