Self-Care & Mental Wellness: Sara Zee Of The Wellness Garage On The Top Five Selfcare Practices That Improve Mental Wellness

An Interview With Maria Angelova

Learn how to say “No”. I find that the people that struggle to find time for self-care often say “Yes” too often to doing things that they really don’t have time for. Then they end up in a festering pool of resentment by the time the activity is over.

Let’s face it. It seems that everyone is under a great deal of stress these days. This takes a toll on our mental wellness. What are some of the best self-care practices that we can use to help improve our mental wellness and mental well-being? In this interview series, we are talking to medical doctors, mental health professionals, health and wellness professionals, and experts about self-care or mental health who can share insights from their experience about How Each Of Us Can Use Self Care To Improve Our Mental Wellness. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Sara Zee.

Sara Zee is a parenting coach and owner of The Wellness Garage. Passionate about mental well-being, she created The Wellness Garage to help other exhausted parents gain access to science-backed, effective tools and strategies to help calm child anxiety, reduce meltdowns, and increase adolescent emotional resilience.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal story? What has brought you to this point in your life?

I started out as a yoga and meditation teacher. What drew me to these practices is that I realized by a fairly young age that I could reduce my anxiety symptoms by working on my mindset and I loved developing a positive mind/body connection. I have since been on a mission to find the best practices for self-care and mindset that help my clients optimize mental well-being for their kiddos so they can grow up to be successful, happy humans.

What is your “WHY” behind what you do? What fuels you?

I’m a high-functioning person with anxiety. When I became a mother and realized that my kids also tended to worry, I created ways to implement the tools and strategies I used in a way that resonated with children. Then once the COVID pandemic happened and it became obvious children were struggling mentally nationwide, I realized that there was a larger community I could help.

Sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake or failure which you now appreciate has taught you a valuable lesson?

One of my biggest mistakes was dropping out of college. I eventually went back and finished my degree, but I had what I now know, was a massive panic attack. I had an incident happen and my knee-jerk reaction was to run away, to drop out of college. But at that point in time, I didn’t even know I had anxiety, much less have the skills to manage the very unpleasant symptoms it can create.

In the months that followed, I realized quickly that I couldn’t always run away or quit things just because I was panicked. I had big dreams and I wanted to follow through on them. So, I set out on figuring out how to manage my anxiety and create optimal well-being for myself. At that time, therapy and medication were pretty much the go-tos and while I find these can be helpful, I wanted to feel more empowered in taking care of my own mental well-being. So, I’ve created a career out of finding alternative practices, tools, and strategies to help others manage their mental well-being and physical health.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Resilience: 6 weeks after the birth of my son, I was diagnosed with cancer. The experience created a resilience in me that is unshakable. It also reaffirmed my belief that our mindset can impact our outer circumstances and inform the quality of our experience.
2. Curiosity: Curiosity drives success because it helps us uncover opportunities and experience growth. When I was in college, I was a typical business major, but it was my curiosity about the mind/body connection that ultimately launched my journey as a business owner.
3. Courage: It takes courage to take risks in the face of the unknown. I left a stable job to start my own business not knowing if I could make it a success and I have never regretted it. Yes, there were uncertain times, but ultimately, it’s been one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve ever had.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now? How do you think that will help people?

My company, The Wellness Garage, has narrowed its focus to helping parents gain access to online tools and resources to help calm their children’s anxiety. We are launching our first online course, Calming Child Anxiety, by the end of November 2022.

The pandemic really gave rise to more anxiety in our kids, yet a lot of parents are without resources to help their kids cope and thrive despite feeling anxious. Our services will help parents empower their children to manage their own mental well-being.

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, about the interface between self-care and mental health. From where you stand personally or professionally, why are you so passionate about mental well-being?

Mental well-being is crucial for quality of life, yet, in the United States mental well-being and health services are out of reach for a lot of the population. For example, according to Jama Pediatrics and the CDC respectively, by 2020, 5.6 million kids (9.2%) have been diagnosed with anxiety problems but only 59.3% received treatment.

As someone who has anxiety herself but is still able to lead a successful life, I feel called to help other people, parents and children in particular, who may not have access to the same resources that I have. I believe that everyone deserves to have mental well-being and my organization aims to be the support many parents who want to raise emotionally resilient kids lack.

Based on your research or experience, how exactly does self-care impact our mental wellness?

Self-care and mental wellness go hand-in-hand. Mention self-care and most people’s minds go right to spa days and beach vacations. And while those experiences can have value, self-care has been relegated to special occasions when it should be practiced routinely throughout the day.

As an anxiety coach, I have seen the value in what I call micro self-care, small daily habits that preserve our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Rather than making self-care an onerous task added to a to-do list, I recommend people look to add short spaces of time when they can focus completely on themselves and their experience. Ultimately the aim of self-care is to take care of ourselves daily as we would someone we love deeply.

Here is our primary question. Can you please share your “Top Five Selfcare Practices That Each Of Us Can Use To Improve Our Mental Wellness”?

1. Transform an everyday task to have the elements of a ritual around it. For example, if you work from home, you could make a ritual out of your daily lunch. Set the table with a linen napkin, nice tableware, and play some great music. Practice mindful eating and turn your devices off. Make eating lunch an act of radical attention.
2. Learn how to say “No”. I find that the people that struggle to find time for self-care often say “Yes” too often to doing things that they really don’t have time for. Then they end up in a festering pool of resentment by the time the activity is over.
3. So, one small act of self-care would be learning how to say “No” graciously so when the next time-draining activity arises they are prepared to protect their mental space.

Here are some examples I teach folks:
* I have another commitment.
* I wish I were able to, but I’m afraid I can’t.
* I don’t have the bandwidth for that right now.
* I’m honored you asked me, but I simply can’t.

Saying “No” well is a great skill and will ultimately strengthen our relationships while giving us some needed space for activities that nourish our mental well-being.

4. Prioritize your sleep. We all know how vital sleep is to perform optimally. And I know that the more tired I am the less effective I am at work and the more conflicts that seem to arise at home…

So, here is a super simple way I recommend to up your sleep game.

Tonight, try this:

> Turn off all electronics and screens at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

> Perform deep breathing exercises like the 4/8 breath for approximately 5 minutes. Breathe in for 4 counts, pause, then breathe out for 8 counts.

> Soften the body by doing a body scan on each body part. First, contract the body part you are focused on and then release it fully before moving on to the next body part.

Wanna get sassy? Add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your pillow and get some quality Zzzzzzzs.

5. Give yourself space to disconnect after work with a “shut-down” routine. Set aside 15 minutes before the end of the workday for one last check of emails. Then disable push notifications on your email to stop yourself from constant phone checking when you’re home.

Then once you get home, choose a short “re-entry” activity into your personal life.

• Call a friend or family member to check-in
• Go for a walk
• Have an exercise or yoga session

A shutdown ritual creates a natural boundary between work and personal life. With a regular routine, you know that you bring your best self to work while also providing the ability to be fully present when you’re at home.

Incorporate breaks into your day. We are such doers and hustling is often lauded as a great character trait. However, 83% of Americans suffer from work-related stress and feeling overworked. How do we mitigate that stress without impacting our bottom-line productivity?

Well, studies have shown the most productive people work for 52 minutes, then take a break for 17 minutes. So, it’s important to block off time for regular rest breaks in your workday.

And I recommend taking it one step further by maximizing these breaks. You could:

• Get your daily dose of vitamin D and go for a walk outside
• Use a mindfulness app and do a meditation or breathing exercise
• Do the daily Wordle, Sudoku, or Crossword puzzle

Intentional breaks contribute to productivity and reduce workplace stress making them an integral part of the workday and a great part of any self-care routine.

Can you please share a few of the main roadblocks that prevent people from making better self-care choices? What would you suggest can be done to overcome those roadblocks?

One of the major roadblocks that people have when it comes to better self-care is time. There never seems to be enough time and we tend to prioritize other people and things before ourselves. To those people, I would like to say, “Start small”. Pick one self-care action, something that takes 5 minutes max, to add to your daily schedule. Stick with it until it becomes routine. And remember, self-care doesn’t have to be time-intensive or expensive…small, intentional actions can make the most impact to our quality of life.

In one sentence, what would you say to someone who doesn’t prioritize their mental well-being?

“Mental well-being is one of the few things we have the power to improve, and with myriad strategies available, you owe it to yourself to prioritize yourself, even in a small way, today.”

Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does this quote resonate with you so much?

My favorite life lesson quote is “It’s all temporary.” This helps me remember that difficult times will end but also reminds me that our time on this planet is precious, so don’t waste a moment of it.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

Having a private breakfast with Brené Brown would be a career-high. After I got over fangirling, I would love to discuss how to instill the ideas from her book “The Gifts of Imperfection” in a way that resonated with kids.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.

About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.