Building your supportive toolkit - what is it, why you need it, and how to create it
A well-known fact is that people thrive in all types of environments when they receive support. It’s easier to stay motivated and go to the gym daily when you have a work out buddy. You journal regularly when you have a coach sending you journal prompts and playlists. Want to make organizing your room easier? Invite a friend and dance to upbeat music while arranging your clothes.
Think of an activity, and chances are with the right type of support, you’ll be able to achieve your goal!
Since the coaching world loves to create easy-to-remember terms for different programs or strategies, and I’ve seen how crucial support is to us women of color, I created something called a supportive toolkit - various items to put in place when you need certain types of support.
It can look something like:
Listening to a specific song, putting on a specific scent, or even sitting in a particular chair to finish the admin task you’ve dreading
Scheduling a buffer before and after a stressful meeting
Asking your friend who works in human resources, not your ‘yes’ friend, to review your resume
The question to ask is - what will help you?
Figuring this out can be hard because it requires that you’re honest with yourself. We may have to admit that a gym membership is helpful in getting you to work out more, while going for daily walks may not. Or, your close friend who badly wants to know every detail of your love life may not be the best person to ask for dating advice. We discover that there are certain people or things that are helpful and other ones that are not. So make sure to ask yourself ‘what/who will help me achieve this?’ and also, ‘what/who will not help me achieve the task?’
Deep breaths friend, it seems daunting but let’s break it down.
Take journaling for example, something we have a love-hate relationship with and we know it’s so helpful in our self-discovery journey!
What’s helpful:
Particular songs/sounds
Time of day
Certain scents
Using different colored pens
What’s not helpful:
Proofreading your journal writing
Writing when others are around
Loud, distracting noises
When you know what works and doesn’t work, then you’ll create systems around it, which looks like:
Having a default ‘journaling’ playlist
Scheduling journaling time daily
Budgeting for your favorite diffuser scent
And now my friends, we have a supportive toolkit for your journaling time! Apply that to other areas of your life and now you have support for each area. Woot! #winning
Need more support? Lemme help you sis:
Digital resources to help you jumpstart and grow in your wellness journey
Group coaching for BIPOC women with monthly guidance & support from me and weekly teaching content to help you heal and grow
1-1 coaching tailored to your personal needs
Blog posts with tips and tricks to make your life easier
Wellness tips delivered right to your inbox
