Busy woman often care for everyone else before themselves. Meg is on a mission to help busy women put a little bit of time aside for themselves so they can be the best they can. Laugh and listen as Meghan, Founder and CEO of evohe skincare tell us some of the wackiest self-care techniques you will ever hear!
Can you tell us a little bit about the “why” for self care for you?
So it sounds a little bit extreme, but this is, this is my experience. It wasn’t just, Oh, let’s have a girls’ day and do some pampering. It was like, if I don’t do this, I’m going to die, but that’s pretty much how far I’d gone. And that was probably, yeah. At the peak of my burnout. I’ve had a mini burnout since then, and I’ve had a burnout prior to that. So it’s like there’s stages of burnout. If I look back at my, um, at the different ages. So in my late teens, early twenties, there was a certain type of burnout that I was able to kind of push through because I didn’t really know any different and you just keep going. And then in my thirties it was a different kind of burnout. Late thirties was when Baz passed away. And I was caring for him while I was running the business. And that was like a three-year process. So I ended up, you know, having three coffees a day. And the only way I could get through was just to use the adrenaline and the stress to give me the energy, to keep going, which is really naughty. Cause it’s just false energy. And so I was dipping into my, any kind of reserves that I had and just depleted.
So Baz was your partner and your business partner….
Leukemia. It was really hard. And I kind of thought I was dying with him. Like it felt like I was dying with him, especially towards the end. And I got covered in this crazy rash. I had what they call premenstrual dysphoric disorder and I’m like, wow, that sounds fancy. And it’s really just basically when you’re in PMT, perpetually and you get all the PMT symptoms perpetually. It’s crazy. It’s like a living nightmare.
So it became crucial for you to self care. So what did you do?
Well, that was the one where I literally stood in front of the mirror. Um, because I, I was pretty much 24 seven care with him because he would just be up all night. And so I would be up all night. So there was, you know, a bit of a taste of sleep deprivation in there. And, but I would have time to have a shower and put some oil on my face. And I made that my time where I was really resistant at first, like a friend suggested you got to do mirror work, you know, and look at yourself in the mirror and put your moisturiser on and, and tell yourself you love yourself. And I was like, Oh God, well, it feels silly. Stupid. Yeah. It feels ridiculous.
Don’t have time. Like I’m just slapping on my oil and I’m out the door because Baz is calling me. Yeah. But anyway, I got to this point where I really thought I’d just have to do something and this, this won’t take that long. And so I looked at myself and I said, thank you. And cause you know, he couldn’t, he didn’t have the capacity to say thank you, but I really needed to hear it. And I just bawled my eyes out. Like I literally just slid down the bathroom cupboard and just bawled.
And I think I really needed that as well. And so that’s what kind of was my lifeline from there on those last six months, I guess I did that as a ritual every night. I would say thank you mostly or just whatever I needed to hear. And it just soothed me so much.
We have some beautiful rituals to ease you into our treatments. It’s the ultimate self-care, see our treatment menu.
When you add kids to the mix, self-care can go out the window…
I feel like there’s a new paradigm coming with parenting and it’s called aware parenting. And what, what friends of mine who practiced that would have told me is that when you explain to your child that mommy needs some time to take care of herself. Now this is my time to just go and have a cup of tea. So you can just play quietly yourself. They kind of go, Oh, it’s not all about me. That’s the kind of a relief. Like they actually feel a bit of relief in a way to, to have their own time. And I’m still feeling like I’m trying to get that message across to Willem who’s three. But by the time he’s four, he’ll definitely be able to grasp that concept that, Oh, this is mommy’s time. And she ends up being a bit of a happier mommy. So I get it. Yeah. Yeah. They get it. They’re really smart. So I didn’t know that there was a word for it.
If people don’t practice self care, what does that look like?
It’s going to sneak up and bite you on the bum. If you don’t look at it at some point, like you can have one at night and um, and then you can have the coffee in the morning to, you know, get you sparked up. But at some point that’s gonna not be enough and something will give.
And you know, we’re not really good communicators in those times either. So it affects our families and our communities. And I mean, this is mainly for women. This podcast. And what I want to say to women is that you’re the leaders and you set the tone and what you’re representing to your family, friends, community is, is how to take care of yourself and what a beautiful message to like be a lantern.
What are your self-care rituals? Here is some mindfulness tips to add to your routine.
Can you delve a little deeper into how you incorporate self-care into your routine?
And one of my tricks is to take my cup of tea and my cake into the shower. So you like sitting on the floor in the shower, the hot water and the heater on. Maybe if you’ve got time, you put the vaporizer on and you’re like just sitting on the floor, having your cuppa and your cake. And then like, I’ll wash my hair and then I’ll get my toothbrush. Like I have the longest shower in the world and I’ll brush my teeth for ages. Like it’s just those basic needs being met. Um, and, and they’re kind of funny. I mean, my other one too, I’m a bit vain. Like, let’s just be honest. I’ve got dark eyes and I can’t leave the house looking like this, but I don’t really never.
So, you know, Willem’s tan-truming about putting his shoes on and I’m like, have I got time to put makeup on, but I’ll, I’ll do this on the loo as well as another one I do on the loo. And I’ll literally just put my oil in the powder and mix it together, make it like a liquid foundation, throw it on. I don’t even have to look in the mirror and I know that I’ll be right. Like it’s that quick. And then I feel when I go out, I just feel a bit better. And I always have lip gloss, a tinted lip gloss in my bra. So I can literally pull it out anywhere.
We stock the beautiful Evohe’s products in our Beauty shop in Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast.
