In this episode of the Jam Session podcast, hosts Ji Kim and Mel Hightower delve into the essential topic of self-care. They explore its definition, the importance of both internal and external self-care, and share personal stories of their journeys. The conversation highlights the significance of recognizing the signs of neglecting self-care, setting boundaries, and the role of sacrifice. They also discuss various non-conventional self-care modalities, including energy healing and Akashic records, and how these practices have influenced their lives. The episode concludes with reflections on the importance of faith, journaling, and finding joy beyond self-care routine.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Why self-care isn’t just bubble baths and spa days—and how internal self-care can be just as vital as external.
- How to spot the warning signs that you’re running on empty before burnout hits.
- Why boundaries, therapy, and honest conversations are game changers when you’re depleted.
- How childhood roles and cultural expectations shape our relationship with self-care.
- What energy healing and Akashic readings are—and how they helped Ji reconnect with her inner self.
- Why journaling, faith, and daily rituals like walking can be powerful and free self-care tools.
- How purpose, not productivity, became the north star for both Ji and Mel.
- Why doing something outside yourself—like solo travel or fostering rescue dogs—can expand your heart and your healing.
What We Discuss:
01:49 – The difference between internal and external self-care—and why we often neglect the internal
03:50 – Mel’s burnout story and the wake-up call that forced her to prioritize her wellbeing
08:27 – Ji’s journey from external self-care to deep internal healing after a breakup
13:23 – Exploring holistic modalities: energy healing, reiki, and Akashic readings
22:06 – How faith and journaling helped Mel reconnect to her purpose
27:30 – Why doing something outside yourself—like solo travel or fostering dogs—can be deeply healing
34:43 – Free self-care practices you can start today, from morning walks to meditation
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View Transcript
(00:00)
[Music]
Ji Kim (00:09)
Welcome to the Jam Session Podcast, whereby tuning in, we hope you tune into your purpose. I’m your co-host, Ji Kim.
Mel Hightower (00:16)
And I’m your cohost Mel Hightower and we’re so excited to have you join us for today’s episode on self care. This is an incredibly important topic to the both of us because self care has been critical to each of our journeys. Oftentimes we think about self care and crisis moments that causes us to realize it’s time to take care of ourselves. But what we want to talk about is how you can incorporate self care into
your every day and how to notice when self-care is missing ⁓ from your lives.
Ji Kim (00:53)
I also think it’s important to note that oftentimes women put self-care to the back burner because there’s a lot of guilt associated with putting themselves first by investing in self-care. We’re hoping by listening to today’s episode, you can understand putting some time and effort into your own wellbeing that in turn trickles down to the wellbeing of others around you.
Mel Hightower (01:20)
Yes, because you cannot pour into anybody else if your cup is not full. Before we dig into our discussion of self-care, it’s important to define what we mean when we talk about self-care. It is a term that is widely used, but I want to make sure that we are all on the same page. She always has the best definitions, so I’m going to turn to her to kick us off with the definition of self-care.
Ji Kim (01:49)
How we break down self-care is internal versus external. And oftentimes I do think as women, we probably spend more time on the external self-care. And for example, that’s always been my skincare regimen. And internal, there’s the conventional, which is therapy or coaching, or the non-conventional or holistic approach.
To me, self-care is whatever one does to allow themselves to feel good, but also to be able to exude and amplify one’s energy.
Mel Hightower (02:36)
It’s anything you need to really tap in and keep your energy whole. Anything you can do to keep yourself healthy. Although a lot of times when we think about self care, our minds go directly to things like working out or what have you, but it is every aspect of one’s self and one’s wellbeing. So now that we are anchored,
in a definition of self care. What’s been interesting to note is that we miss the warning signs of what it means to go without self care and how we know that, wait a minute, wait a minute, I’ve been neglecting myself. Each of us has been through situations where we have neglected self care and I’m happy to share what I mean by that. If you’ve been following along on this conversation, you will know by now that
I am a recovering workaholic. One role comes to mind where I was running a team and I remember being told that there could be no drops, zero mistakes. But we still had to keep up with every other aspect of the deliverable. So no sacrificing of the quality, no sacrificing of the speed. And that took so much out of me. I remember that I wasn’t sleeping.
because I was constantly checking and rechecking work. I wasn’t eating. And it also started to manifest physically. I started losing my vision, losing my voice. And not only was it manifesting in those ways, it was manifesting emotionally. And I realized I had reached my point where one day,
I was thinking about the meetings that I needed to have at work while I was in the shower and I started sobbing because I was so depleted. I felt as if I couldn’t go another step. And of course I still went into work, still got through the day, but realized that I needed to do something and quickly, but it wasn’t until I hit that wall
where I started sobbing because I never cried that I knew something was wrong.
Ji Kim (04:56)
What was the first thing you addressed because your body was telling you that basically was shutting down and you had not been taking care of yourself? So what was the first thing you did to sort of backstep and begin this self-care journey for yourself?
Mel Hightower (05:16)
I took a real vacation for the first time in years. I know. So up until then, my vacations were really just me doing work in a different place. I would step out to take phone calls, to negotiate contracts, whatever it might be. ⁓ So I remember the first thing I did was I went into my boss and I said, I’m going to take some time away and I’m not taking my phone. I won’t be reachable.
Ji Kim (05:21)
There’s still wonders.
Mel Hightower (05:46)
And that was like shock waves. work colleagues couldn’t even believe it because I had set the expectation that there were no boundaries. So that was the first thing to start resurrecting some of those boundaries that I let fall by the wayside. The second thing I did is once I got back, I set time up with a therapist.
I loved self-help books and I think they’re a wonderful tool, but all of my self-help books were, can I get more productive, do more with less? You know, they weren’t helping me see that I was running on empty. I set up time with a therapist and really poured my heart out and explained how helpless I was feeling. Working against these impossible odds, creating this incredible anxiety within me.
I remember my therapist, him asking me, you know, how do you feel about work? I had gone from loving what I did to viewing it as something of a burden. And then finally, I talked to my family. I had a good front going where everything was okay. And ⁓ I finally let them know that everything wasn’t and that I was really struggling.
And so the support that they started giving me validated how I was feeling about the situation, that it wasn’t all in my head. And then I needed to make a change. And ultimately I did leaving that role to take on a different role.
Ji Kim (07:28)
I would think that it’s a good place to start with the conversation of boundaries and the therapy, also talking with your family, because all of those can be difficult.
Mel Hightower (07:43)
Yeah, I think it’s difficult to admit something’s wrong.
Ji Kim (07:44)
Difficult!
Yeah, for sure. We suffer in silence.
Mel Hightower (07:51)
We do. And I was certainly one who back then believed that the way I showed my caring was through self-sacrifice. If I cared, then I wouldn’t mind staying up late. I wouldn’t mind missing meals. I wouldn’t mind all of these other things. ⁓ But sacrifice is not the same.
as caring. mean, you certainly we can sacrifice for those we care about, but this continual sacrifice so much that it depletes you, and it has you running on E, that’s not helpful for anyone.
Ji Kim (08:27)
Yeah, that concept of sacrifice is very interesting because for me, my journey with self-care has been complicated because you model what you see and if you have a parent, because oftentimes the same-sex parent resonate with you and that’s my mom, she did not designate any time to self-care.
As I grew up, wasn’t necessarily a priority. constraint contributes to whether or not you invest in self-care. But for me, there was a hyper-focus on the external. So I obviously cared greatly about my skincare, and that was a regimen, a zen process for me every evening to close out work. And it was a very thorough process.
There wasn’t this hyper focus on internal self care probably until my breakup.
Mel Hightower (09:29)
Why was your focus so much on the external? Was there a link between that and what you were seeing modeled?
Ji Kim (09:37)
So growing up, unknowingly, our parents gave us roles and my sister’s role was the pretty one and everyone fond over her beauty. I was known as the smart one and everyone fond over my, I guess, intelligence. That sounds so weird saying, but as you grow up, you try to obtain what you feel is lacking or what
wasn’t attributed to you. So I think Sue always wanted to be known as a smart one. I wanted to be known as a beautiful one. As I began to mature and grow up and understand self-care a little bit more, I started focusing on what I thought was important, which was very much extra.
Mel Hightower (10:25)
Got it.
Ji Kim (10:28)
And I also think as an immigrant, in our generation, we didn’t have a lot of language around internal self-care, right? At least in my household where we thought about your inner needs to match your outer, and there needs to be wholeness and alignment. It wasn’t something I was talking about growing up. So this whole self-care for me was a learning journey that I had to figure out on my own. So…
I’m less external now and more internal and the internal really kicked off with the breakup. I was about six years ago and during that process therapy, it’s so important to have someone who doesn’t have skin in the game, who is very neutral. There is something so beneficial about someone who didn’t grow up with you, who didn’t see the dysfunction, participate in the dysfunction.
who can then give you honest feedback about sort of how you see it, what you see, and sort of how to progress forward. And so that was something that really I started with post-breakup was the therapy. And then I got a coach. It was pretty intense with the therapy the first couple of years after the breakup.
Mel Hightower (11:50)
kind of coach was it was it a life coach was it
Ji Kim (11:52)
Yeah, it was a combination. So initially I started with a life coach and she was amazing. I met her through a friend ⁓ who had used her services. I had interviewed and spoken with a few coaches because for me to focus on that hour weekly but also to invest the money, I needed the coach to resonate with me.
And she was phenomenal because she had a business background, which was important to me. ⁓ But then also she was an immigrant who sort of had gone through detaching from her upbringing, had gone through what I’ve gone through. And that was important to me so that there was this connection of empathy that I needed from my coach as I went through this process. And so that was pretty intense.
for me in conjunction with the therapy. And that’s where I started internally. Once that ball started going, then I transitioned into every modality that was out there. ⁓
Mel Hightower (13:03)
Well, let’s talk about that. There are there’s a whole world of self care that I think many are not aware of and might not know exists to try and you explored a broader range than me. So I’d love to hear you talk about one or two more rare modalities that you
Ji Kim (13:23)
The
non-conventional or the holistic approach. there you go. Yes. And for me, what I will start with saying is I was the person who, if science didn’t back it, I wasn’t going to participate. I was very closed off. I don’t know what happened after the breakup. I just wanted to be in a new way and understanding that
there were things out in the universe that helped a lot of people that I wasn’t open to. And so I wanted to just be open to everything, have a learner’s mind and not be pessimistic and just go in hoping for the best. I did try every single modality that you could possibly think of, but the most beneficial to me
was the energy healing. I worked with a reiki master and
Mel Hightower (14:25)
Talk
a little bit more about that in terms of what is the process of energy healing?
Ji Kim (14:32)
So, really the theory is like everything is made up of energy. I have energy internally, energy outside of me, everything carries energy. Your goal is to have your energy flow. The thought behind energy healing is if energy isn’t flowing properly, you can become ill. And for me, I went because again, at this point in my life, I had met
A new group of friends, they were trying a lot of different modalities and anything that was brought up to me, would sort of try it. ⁓ But in my case, her name was Beth and she did not advertise and it was only by referral, which I really liked. And my sessions with her would sometimes be four hours. I would show up.
We would sit on the couch, we’d talk about sort of like what’s going on, what I think is sort of the issues that I’m having. Sometimes I would cry, sometimes I wouldn’t, you know, we would just talk for a while and then I would lay down and she would touch certain parts of my body with permission and move energy. And I was always really exhausted after. I would always pass out.
What I enjoyed about that one is I think I just loved Beth. Her approach, her softness, her kindness. I actually felt so relaxed and stress free after the session and for coming weeks. And I would go weekly for a while and then it went monthly. But I just felt really good.
Mel Hightower (16:27)
What determined the length? You mentioned that sometimes your sessions were hours. Did Beth determine the length of your session?
Ji Kim (16:35)
Yeah, it just depends on how much we talked and what needed to be moved and flowed.
Mel Hightower (16:41)
And did she use ⁓ crystals?
Ji Kim (16:45)
Now, just her hands, full transparency. As I’m driving there, I’m like, oh my God, Ji. Okay, just be open-minded. And for some reason, I thought before I even walked in, was like, energy healer. I was like, she’s psychic. She’s gonna read my mind. This is how really blind and ignorant I was. I was always afraid she was gonna tell me my energy’s fucked up, I have a black aura, you know, all of these thoughts. But she was amazing. I did that for many years with her.
and it was very helpful for me. It’s helpful for some, not helpful for others. Again, I’m all about trying new things, figuring out what helps me, and then coming up with a routine that’s beneficial for my wellbeing. So that was energy healing. And then the other piece of it was a caustic readings. So in a lot of ways, I wouldn’t say it’s…
healing. It’s more of self-care. How do I explain this? There is this theory that in the universe, everyone has an Akashic record. The record of your past life, your present, and your potential outcome of your life. And you connect with Akashic reader who then accesses the Akashic records and then you ask questions.
and then get information from the record. And these are potential outcomes based on your highest self. So it’s not guaranteed and these are the options that can play out.
Mel Hightower (18:23)
Does the information then guide your present state self in some way?
Ji Kim (18:29)
Yeah, you know, you can ask initially, what are the karmic patterns? What am I supposed to learn? And then get a little bit more specific as I did down the road. But the information comes back to you through the Akashic reader. And then you can take that information, do what you want with it. You can make decisions based on it, or you have information that’s helpful to you.
Mel Hightower (18:55)
How often did you go?
Ji Kim (18:57)
Gosh, the person I… So I had a few different Akashic readers, but I will say one felt… I don’t like to use the word legitimate, but I felt like one had a gift. Her name was Sarah, she doesn’t do it anymore, ⁓ but I really felt like she had the true gift, and I’m a pretty good bullshit reader.
Mel Hightower (19:22)
Were there instances where you saw connectivity between the readings and the events that actually took place in your life?
Ji Kim (19:30)
Yes, so a few things came up. was, you know, my life imploded at 40. I felt like it imploded. Looking back, it was like the best thing that ever happened to me. But in that moment, you feel like your life is falling apart. And I was floundering. And it was even more difficult for me because up until that point, I pretended like I had all my shit together. And so…
It was very hard for me to even speak to my family. That was a lot of insight and crossover between what I was telling my therapist and what I was hearing back from Sarah. That was really important to me because there was a theme that constantly came up about sort of the patterns that was reliving. So that was very helpful. And when you’re going through a transition period, trying to get as much information.
can be beneficial because you have it and then you could do what you want with it. But it’s also very helpful because when multiple individuals tell you the same information, you start believing it. And then the second piece of it was I always wanted to go out on my own, start my consulting business. I was so scared and I just wanted
to live a safe life and have this debut to you and it’s always this thought of you’re making such good money, you have health benefits, blah, blah, why would you ever leave? Working with Sarah and getting an understanding of the higher self and the best possible outcome, essentially what it came down to was you will always eventually be out on your own. If you decide to stay in house, you’re just prolonging what is meant for you. So.
That was very helpful to push me to begin this process of going on my own. found this passion for coaching, coaching women, going through what I was going through later in life. You know, I had a session with Sarah and there was a lot of feedback about being comfortable with following this journey because it leads to a greater purpose. So that was helpful for me.
Mel Hightower (21:54)
This work served as what you needed in the sense of an independent affirmation that the path you were contemplating was meant for you.
Ji Kim (22:06)
Yes, and the universe will support it. know, some’s gonna listen to this and be like, well, gee, you probably needed that ⁓ and you wanted to believe it. But again, it comes down to what do you need to move forward and what do you need to make yourself feel better?
Mel Hightower (22:21)
That’s true. For me, the independent affirmation to move forward and make changes was faith-based. I grew up in a church. My grandfather was a head deacon. I lived in church at least three to four nights a week growing up. As time went on, I moved away from it. It wasn’t until later that I reconnected with my faith, and it was at my lowest moment.
I started small with this app that gave you a scripture every day. I found myself looking forward to that part of the day and recognizing that there was a familiarity in Bible study and the lessons that were easily applicable to my life. There’s a lot in faith that talks about finding your purpose.
and that everything you do should be in service of your purpose. I came to realize that I was lost. I was so conflicted with what was happening in my life at that time because I lost sight of what my purpose was. Anchoring in what was familiar to me, which was faith, was a way to get back to what was I put here on earth to do? What for me led to this idea that I wanted to be out on my own?
I wanted to be able to have an unfettered conversation with people about financial health. And that was my main calling. And it took the support system of faith in order to get me there. That combined with journaling, I was never one to write down my thoughts. Life was moving too fast at any one given point in time. I got a journal.
And it was small because I didn’t want the pressure of writing a huge chunk every day. wrote, I wrote about everything and nothing. I wrote about mundane things like what I did that day to big questions about hope for the future. And it was that rhythm that I established to be really connected to myself. We go through the motions of life, but we’re not.
living in the present and daily journaling connected me to the here and now in a way that I hadn’t been before and looking at past entries. It is so wonderful to see the growth. I wish I had known that this is where I would end up.
Ji Kim (25:04)
journal off and on. The only thing I’m pretty consistent with is I like to write and rewrite what I want my ideal day to be. I like to look at that and read through that five times a week so that I am reminded to keep going, right? Because everything I’m doing, building the coaching business, the decisions I make to get me to that ideal day.
I like to reread that so that I am very clear on my goal and what decisions I should make on a daily basis and what I should be saying no to. It’s funny because this is a testament of how different I am. If I had written this five years ago, it would just been like, I want to wake up in my mansion, drive my nice car.
go to a high-power job, have X amount in the bank, right? It would have been so superficial because that’s how lost I was. I think it’s fine to love money and all that stuff. What my ideal day looks like, working with clients, having dinners with friends. Yes, of course you want to make sure you can sustain the lifestyle, but it’s less about feeling a void and more about living a purpose.
Mel Hightower (26:33)
What you’re doing is visioning and manifesting really at the same time. ⁓
Ji Kim (26:39)
Can we
move a little faster though, universe with a manifestation?
Mel Hightower (26:47)
get where we’re going. I know. was like, especially at this big age, right? We got to get to where we’re going in quick, fast and in a hurry.
Ji Kim (26:56)
But I love that. I love that you journal and you’re faith-based. It’s funny, mine is a caustic reading and doing all this other stuff, but it’s just a belief in something greater than yourself. And for us, we focus in this world so much on ourselves, fixing ourselves. It can be really draining. And I wanted to ask you, Mal,
What do you do outside of yourself that also feeds your soul?
Mel Hightower (27:30)
For me, it’s travel. And so when you ask the question of what do I focus on outside of myself, it’s where I’m not the center of, I’m not the main character, right? So all of the stuff we’ve talked about is a ton of self work. When I travel, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel quite a bit, it is the immersion into a broader world. ⁓
Ji Kim (27:32)
How
Mel Hightower (27:58)
and being able to learn about and have exposure to cultures, people, pastimes, food, traditions, things that are so beyond what my experience is. recognizing that that is beautiful and I love it. I love going out and I do a lot of solo travel.
Ji Kim (28:25)
I feel like you do 90 % solo travel. What I’ve realized about you is that travel with friends domestically, internationally is when you like to go solo because you travel to places that are obviously Europe and whatnot, but you’ve been going to the Middle East a lot.
Mel Hightower (28:47)
Yeah, I’ve been going to the Middle East, I’ve been going to Africa and solo travel to me is the best because when you travel with someone else, you’re focused on one another. And when you solo travel, you can’t help but to be focused on the broader world around you. And that’s the beauty of solo travel. I find myself connecting more with people and culture when I solo travel and talking to folks around me.
now have friends on every continent because of solo travel. And it caused me to put myself out there because you’re showing up at a place where you have no connection.
Ji Kim (29:29)
Yeah, yeah, like no language. You don’t know the systems. don’t know a single soul. You don’t know the food. Like it’s scary. And that’s why I love hearing about your travel. I realize, okay, she’s getting, it’s something beyond herself. It’s an immersion into another culture. It’s seeing another way of being that I think has really expanded your world.
view of like it’s not just about America and how we live in America.
Mel Hightower (30:03)
Absolutely. And I needed to have that because sometimes your worldview is incredibly limited by who you are and what you’ve experienced. And that’s not to say that travel is the cure-all. ⁓ I wouldn’t say that at all. For me, I’ve been fortunate enough to have that be the vehicle through which I’ve broadened my own horizons. And next up for me is my trip through Asia, which I am so excited about. cannot wait.
And nothing gets me more excited than being able to venture out, meet new people, make new friends, and most importantly, learn. But that’s me. Gee, what about you? What is the thing that you do that is outside of yourself?
Ji Kim (30:47)
fostering and rescuing dogs. I would have never thought that this would be me. I don’t know why, right? I don’t know why fostering and rescuing dogs didn’t seem like my thing, but, you know, I rescued a dog with the ex and she was with me for 10 years and then that showed me that I could actually be a really good dog owner and
I could have a very strong bond with the dog. And I rescued more after that. And it was probably about a year now since I started fostering dogs and working with the shelters directly or most recently a rescue organization where we pull medical dogs who need help. mean, my first foster was a terminally ill dog. had brain cancer and I didn’t want him to die in the shelter and he was 13. And so I pulled him and…
had him live with me and then he passed away in six weeks and my second foster who’s here now, he was severely beaten and anemic and you know, the shelter system doesn’t have the resources. So I brought him home and there’s something so heartbreaking yet rewarding and fulfilling about caring for something else than yourself. There’s something amazing about dogs where they’re just…
in the present and they’re so forgiving that you can’t but look at them and just be in awe. So for me it’s been a lot of work but really really rewarding. I love doing it.
Mel Hightower (32:26)
What did fostering teach you about yourself?
Ji Kim (32:30)
that I’m really maternal.
that I have lot of patience. It’s crazy. don’t, mean, my patience has grown, but I would definitely say I have a lot of patience for dogs, more so than humans. And what else I learned is just how big my heart is. I just don’t know, I never realized it before.
Mel Hightower (33:00)
Yeah, how much love you have to give. Well, gee, you are an incredibly loving and giving person. When I first met you, I loved your directness. And then as I got to know you more, I realized you had one of the biggest hearts. And so that made me realize you were so special.
Ji Kim (33:21)
You’re gonna make me cry now. What are you-
Mel Hightower (33:24)
I don’t want make you cry. But I see the way you are with your family, with the people and the things that you love. And the fact that you will go to the ends of the earth for them is something that I admire so deeply about you. And you’re so consistent. And I think in a world where things are uncertain and always changing, that…
level of consistency to know that you are gonna be there shining and showing up the same way every time, full of love, full of caring, full of empathy, is such a beautiful and wonderful thing.
Ji Kim (34:06)
Okay, I didn’t think this is where this was going. So thank you. It’s making me really emotional. That is so kind and thoughtful to say, but I feel the same way about you. Mwah.
Mel Hightower (34:22)
Well, I will say this. I didn’t mean to make you cry, but it’s all true.
What I will say though is that one thing we’ve talked about, a lot of the things that we do from energy healing to spa days to international travel require to Botox. But I don’t want our listeners to think that, oh, self-care requires a certain amount of wealth because that’s not true. There are things we both do that require no money at all.
Ji Kim (34:43)
Both hot.
We do stuff that are free. What is always baked into my routine is walking. I’m usually up around 5-5 30 and I go for a morning walk, so I don’t check my phone. It’s pitch black outside. It’s silent. There’s no one out there and I literally walk for a minimum of 45 minutes with both my dogs to get your body flowing, get there’s something about the cool air in the morning in the darkness.
⁓ When it’s silent, it’s how I always start my day. It’s free and it I can’t imagine not having that walk in the morning and then I bake in two more walks throughout the day that are a little bit longer, but the morning always starts with that walk.
Mel Hightower (35:46)
Well, I walk in the afternoon because I have to commune with the sun. So I know you avoid the sun at all costs. I, however, do not. And I take an afternoon walk because fresh air and sunlight make a lot of sense. We already talked about the fact that I journal in the morning. I also meditate. I just take a moment to myself and I either will use an app or I’ll ⁓
just sit in silence and I will think about an affirmation and meditate on that affirmation. That for me causes me to slow down because my biggest thing right now is this internal, I don’t know, voice that tells me you gotta do more, you gotta, you gotta, you know, keep going.
Ji Kim (36:38)
Yeah, we’re always texting each other that, always calming each other down. No matter how much work I’ve done, Mel, I’m still texting, do I go back in house? It’s impatience. Again, the universe, can speed up the manifestation. I would greatly appreciate it. But ⁓ yeah, it’s this thing where you and I have that similar energy of go, go, go, and we want to feel productive and have a lot going on as we’ve healed.
we’ve found value in just existing and it’s okay if it’s slow.
Mel Hightower (37:16)
really important. can’t emphasize it enough, especially as you grow older. It’s important to realize and to be present for every day. Slow living lets you do that. It lets you enjoy and find joy in the mundane. Up until this point, I had been an adrenaline junkie in many forms, constantly looking for the next win, the next big project, and it to me just existing.
is something I had to learn and train myself to do and realize that just existing had value.
Ji Kim (37:54)
And part of it just existing is taking your walks and that doesn’t cost you anything. And I found the walks in my morning routine, the most beneficial right up there with therapy and coaching and everything that I’ve done. Mel, you talked about the journaling in the morning. I do think it’s really important to have a morning routine that works for you, that sets your day up the way you want it.
to be and be very intentional about it. I walk first thing in morning, I don’t check my phone, I don’t text, I don’t call anybody, I don’t look at my emails. ⁓ I look at it as nothing is so urgent that it can’t wait. I come back home, I have coffee, I feed my dogs, I make a nice breakfast, and I actually sit in silence, eat with my dogs around me, and then start planning my day.
Mel Hightower (38:50)
of the morning routine cannot be underestimated. Six to nine, I have blocked off pretty much every day where I do all the things. I journal, I meditate, ⁓ I might do a morning salutation. I’ll greet the day because I am a big morning person. And having that time to allow myself to ease into the day before the demands hit, to have time for myself and to create that space for
for ourselves is incredible. So with that, that is a great place for us to conclude our dialogue. And we hope that by listening to this conversation, you realize that self-care isn’t selfish. It is in fact the necessary fuel that we need in order to live fulfilling productive lives. And we hope that by…
listening to this conversation that you take a moment to engage in your own self care, whether it’s a spa day or a trip or journaling, taking a walk, meditation or fostering dogs.
Ji Kim (40:00)
fostering dog.
Supporting the shelters and rescues.
Mel Hightower (40:06)
Yes.
Whatever it is, whatever helps you feel healthy, well and whole, we think it’s important for you to be able to do.
Ji Kim (40:20)
Well, thank you for listening. We’re so grateful.
Mel Hightower (40:24)
Yeah, and feel free to reach out to us at info at jamsession-podcast.com and we hope that by tuning into us, it helps you to tune into your purpose. See you next time. ⁓