A talk on Self-Care with EmmaE! 💙

Interviewee: @EmmaE

What is your idea of spending a balanced time on 7cups? Share your idea of how a good day looks like on 7cups, for you.

✨ My idea of spending a balanced time on 7 cups consists of a lot of things! I think one of the biggest things to prioritize when finding balance in online life vs real life is making sure that we all find enough time for self-care and our real life priorities - taking breaks is more than okay and completely encouraged! No matter what roles we are in or how many online commitments we may have on cups, we should never feel overwhelmed or have anything lead us to burn out. My idea of a good day on 7 cups would look like popping into the chatrooms/making or replying to forum posts/answering pms (wherever you’d like to spend your time) for not more than a few hours a day, and making sure that any of our offline work/commitments are completed first or making sure that there is still time to complete them! Everything is good in moderation, but too much of anything will lead to an imbalance which may cause negative outcomes instead of the positive ones we should be receiving from a platform such as this one.

What challenges did you face in trying to strike that balance?

✨ When I first started as a listener around a year ago, I had a lot of trouble with creating a healthy balance. I had just found 7 cups and was so excited to be helping people, so I was taking so many chats all day, staying up late to take even more, and got very overwhelmed very quickly. This community is such an incredible one, so all the support, appreciation and friendship we can both provide and receive allows us to become attached really quickly. At that point in time, I was on 7 cups so much that my family was really concerned as to why I was spending so much time on my phone and not socializing, as it was new years! As many newbies may feel when they begin their journey, the feeling we get from providing or receiving support feels like no other. It is easily one of the most rewarding things that I have experienced in my life, so I completely understand how hard it may be to move away from that or recognize when we need to take a break!

How did you try to deal with those challenges?

✨ To deal with those challenges, I reached out to people around me who could help! After reflecting on myself and speaking with some of our lovely peer supporters, I took a break from member chats for a while and focused more on my own mental health. I made sure that before I was supporting members, I was in the complete right headspace and could offer the best support possible, since that is what our members deserve! I made sure to not take more than a few chats a day in order to leave some time for myself and my real life to make sure I wouldn’t get overwhelmed again. Looking back at this point in time of my listener journey, I later realized that going through this was a really amazing learning experience for me, and I am so lucky to have received the support I did that helped me get to where I am now and support other people who may be in similar situations that I was in!

What are the benefits of improving your balance for the time you spend on cups?

✨ Improving your balance for the time you spend on cups can really improve our journeys and experiences here! If we aren’t able to find a good balance between our real lives and lives on 7 cups, it can quickly become something that seems more like a chore and we will tend to not want to be in the environment causing us more stress than joy and respite. I have unfortunately seen many listeners lose the passion they used to have for 7 cups due to burnout and being overwhelmed, and many of them ended up leaving the site completely. Having a healthy balance will help us stay on 7 cups longer term, as the boundaries we put in place to protect our own mental well-being will keep cups a place that brings us nothing but positivity!

What message would you like to give to the cupsers who have come to be negatively attached to cups, in one of the many ways?

✨ The biggest suggestion I can give to any cupser who has come to be negatively attached to cups would be don’t hesitate to take breaks!! As mentioned before, I completely understand how easy it is to become attached to such a supportive place, but you are the priority no matter what. If you need to or think you may be in a position where you can’t find the right balance, please reach out to someone who can support and help you. Whether that be a friend, listener (if you are a member) or peer supporter, mentor, mentor leader, etc (if you’re a listener), we are here to help and support you through times such as these - we want nothing but the best for you and hope to see you all thrive in this community! Taking self-care breaks when needed and focusing on ourselves and our own well-being can make a much more significant difference than we may think. I really encourage everyone to take a step back and reflect on how much time we spend on 7 cups, what our attitude towards cups is/if it has changed, and really thinking about if we are taking enough time away from cups to focus on ourselves and our real, offline lives.

💙Series Supporters: @sunisshiningandsoareyou @sia1325 @fristo @Moonlemon48 @musicalHarmony @SoftFaith2004 @KyleBorg @audienta @29amy

This interview is part of the A Talk on Self-Care Interview Series. Learn more here