036 Self Care for Changemakers with Christy Tending

Hi there and welcome to episode 36 of Couragemakers!

This week I’m speaking to Christy Tennery-Spalding. Christy is a self-care mentor, healer, and climate justice activist. She supports people who want to change the world develop amazing self-care practices so they can do their work more effectively and with more joy. Christy lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their feral cats, Dorothy and Harriet.

During this episode, Christy shares her journey of activism, working in the nonprofit world and starting her online business and how identifying her zone of genius has helped her work in a way that not only serves the world, but herself as well. 

We really dive into how burnout and exhaustion can become a badge of honour when working to change the world, how working to slow things down instead of an emergency mindset ultimately changes our lives and our wellbeing and self care isn’t a reward, nor is it tied to your productivity, but rather something we all need regardless.

We have a really honest conversation about what it means to want to change the world, the grief we often don’t acknowledge when working in a helping profession and how our ego, and our guilt often plays a role in how we show up in the world. 

Christy shares great advice for anyone looking to find their own zone of genius, and some much needed reminders to all of us that self care is not selfish, but rather essential for a wholehearted life.

This is a fantastic episode if you’re an activist, work or have worked in a helping profession, if you’ve ever or are struggling with burnout and if you seek to make the world a brighter place without diminishing your own light at the same time. I know this episode is going to resonate with so many people, because it touches on so many cornerstones of what this podcast is about.

I absolutely loved talking to Christy and I love the work she is putting in the world. 

Our stories overlap in so many ways and it was so good to have such a truthful and bullshit free conversation about burnout and how we can all change the world in our own unique way. 

I know this episode is going to resonate with so many people, because it touches on so many cornerstones of what this podcast is about.

Enjoy the show!