When Shaniece Melvin stepped into a bigger city with her son, the landscape of her life transformed drastically. Her voice resonates with the strength of a community health worker and a devoted mother as she unfolds the layers of her self-care voyage, taking us beyond the glitter of material indulgence to the heart of inner well-being. Our discussion with her, steeped in authenticity, offers an inspiring look at the resilient journey of crafting a healthy internal life while scaling professional heights. Shanice's gratitude towards the Self Care Society group serves as a powerful reminder of how essential it is to nurture ourselves in order to be a beacon of care for others.
Meanwhile, Shaniece opens up about a chapter in her life that many can relate to—a tough breakup. But it's not the fall that defines us; it's the rise. Witness Janice's rise as she rediscovers joy in hobbies and the serenity of mindfulness. Listening to her story, you'll see how reading, yoga, and affirmations aren't just acts of self-love, but lifelines that have anchored not just her, but also her daughter. The conversation weaves through the significance of these personal rituals and their profound impact on our mental health and overall journey through life. Join us as we celebrate the simple yet transformative practices that weave the rich tapestry of self-care.
When Shaniece Melvin stepped into a bigger city with her son, the landscape of her life transformed drastically. Her voice resonates with the strength of a community health worker and a devoted mother as she unfolds the layers of her self-care voyage, taking us beyond the glitter of material indulgence to the heart of inner well-being. Our discussion with her, steeped in authenticity, offers an inspiring look at the resilient journey of crafting a healthy internal life while scaling professional heights. Shanice's gratitude towards the Self Care Society group serves as a powerful reminder of how essential it is to nurture ourselves in order to be a beacon of care for others.
Meanwhile, Shaniece opens up about a chapter in her life that many can relate to—a tough breakup. But it's not the fall that defines us; it's the rise. Witness Janice's rise as she rediscovers joy in hobbies and the serenity of mindfulness. Listening to her story, you'll see how reading, yoga, and affirmations aren't just acts of self-love, but lifelines that have anchored not just her, but also her daughter. The conversation weaves through the significance of these personal rituals and their profound impact on our mental health and overall journey through life. Join us as we celebrate the simple yet transformative practices that weave the rich tapestry of self-care.
Welcome to the Self Care Society podcast with your hosts Celia Williamson, ashley Kutcher, louis Guardiola and Carrie Shaw, a podcast devoted to those whose job it is to help others get or remain mentally, physically and emotionally healthy, but who also need to take care of themselves.
Speaker 2:How we're going to do this? By first showing you the filtered, pretty version of success and then the real struggles, real work and raw grit it took to get there, how they took care of themselves and also achieved their goals while doing it Together.
Speaker 1:we will work with you to improve and maintain your internal health and growth, while helping you achieve your external goals and your next professional achievement in life.
Speaker 2:And we're excited to show you how to follow your own individual and unique path and achieve the dreams you have, while taking good care of yourself. So let's get started. Welcome to the Self Care Society podcast. I'm Carrie Shaw and my guest today is Shanice Melvin. Before we get started, I want to share that I invited Shanice to be a guest because I have been so impressed by her commitment to self care and to doing the work and to her routine. So we're going to learn more about that today and I can't wait to hear what she has to share.
Speaker 2:Shanice attended the University of Toledo in 2014 and graduated with her BA cum laude in communication and a minor in marketing in 2018. She is a certified community health worker for an organization called Celebrate One. She's been in her role for about one year now. Shanice has earned several certifications this year, including motivational interviewing, newborn care specialist, certified diversity lactation instructor, mental health first aider, certified community health worker and trauma informed care. She plans to further her education by earning her master's in social work in starting in fall 2024. Shanice, welcome to the Self Care podcast.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2:We're so excited to have you, shanice.
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2:So we like to start out by hearing a little bit about who the real Shanice is, and that question is really geared towards how other people see you, kind of on the outside. So what can you tell us about who Shanice is?
Speaker 3:So that's a very great question because I'm still trying to figure out who Shanice is, because she's the chief. But just to kind of give a background, I'm from Dayton, ohio, and I grew up in a small town and I moved to Columbus in April 2021 after I had my son. I had my son in February, so he was only a couple months old, and me and my child's father, we all moved up here in Columbus and since then I have learned so much, just being able to move from a small town to a bigger city, and it really has just opened my eyes in a different perspective just to see what's out here. And when I first came out here, I was very scared. I didn't, honestly, didn't have much planning time. I just woke up one day and I was like I think I want to move and that's what I did. So let's see back in.
Speaker 3:It was in 2020. Again, the 2020 is when I said I wanted to actually move in. I had visited Columbus maybe a couple times that year just to kind of see the area, and the east side is where I had decided to move to. It was just very close to a lot of things. So that was the area we chose and since then, I've just been able to really grow in the city and I'm still on the east side. I'm actually Reynoldsburg right now, but I was living in these apartments when we first came out here and then I had finally moved out of there. About that was in 2022. Last year, yeah, I'm sorry. The time, the years, it's just everything is oh no.
Speaker 2:We're in a time warp after COVID, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I had moved into Reynoldsburg. I have became a community health worker. Last year, october 3rd was celebrate one. And what celebrate one. What we do? We provide resources for pregnant moms. They comes with children. We get them connected to diapers, wipes, packing plates, car seeds, or we can refer them to help them up. I first snapped EBT Medicaid. We do a lot of wide range of things. I've been in this role for a year now. I was a certified community health worker in September. That's when I came certified Congratulations, yes, thank you. Since then I have just been able to really get into self-care, I would say the right way.
Speaker 3:I feel like for a while I really wasn't doing self-care the right way, the way that I perceive it now. Back then I used to think, oh, I have to go spend money or I have to do all these fancy things. Getting older and really realizing the true purpose of self-care is what really struck to me, especially becoming a community health worker, because it's not going to be easy work, but it's very fulfilling. I would say it's very fulfilling. I have to make sure that I'm taking care of myself before I can even take care of others. I use that in my personal life as well. I can't pour from an empty cup. I think joining this group, the self-care society group, has really helped me along the way as well.
Speaker 3:Without this group, I don't think I would be able to be here now this weekend, because it just really impacted me so much in my personal life and my work life. So I just want to thank you guys so much for this group. It has truly just made such a huge difference in my life.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Shanice. I would love to hear. Well, let's talk first about what your routine is. What are you doing in this new routine of self-care for yourself that isn't based on buying things or spending money?
Speaker 3:So now what I do? I had to find my hobbies, like what I really enjoy, raha actually, me and my child's father we had separated back in March of this year, so that separation kind of impacted me a lot. We were together for almost four years, so going through that wasn't really easy. So I knew that I didn't wanna sit around and be sad or mad or anything. So what I decided to do was find some hobbies. I had to really sit down and find hobbies and take less time on social media, because social media can be very influencing. Especially doing like a breakup is really not the best time to be on social media. So I had to really focus on other things that wouldn't make me sad or anything. So I picked up reading books. I already did like to read books, but I actually enjoy reading books now, like it's really peaceful to me. It brings me joy to be able to find a good book to just read, and it's just words of affirmations. That's my love language. I'm a words of affirmation type of girl. So reading books has helped me along my journey. And also doing yoga. I love doing yoga. I love working out. I definitely became more engaged with my body because I felt before I had my kids I was pretty lazy, I didn't really exercise, I didn't really move around. But then again, I was young at that time. I feel like now I'm finally in my adulthood where I feel like we need to exercise at this age. So that was also something that really helped me, and it still helped me to this day.
Speaker 3:And one thing that I like to mention to people is to do the things you love more often. So I love that. Doing it one time. Just try to be consistent. You have to train your brain to be consistent and once I heard that quote, it really stuck to me because that's when I feel like I started to do the things I love to do more often, instead of just every now and then or just, oh, whenever I feel like it, do it more often. And that's really the true meaning of self-care right there Doing the things you love to do more often. And it doesn't necessarily mean having to go by anything. It can just be something as simple as running a bathwater, lighting some candles or Because I love smell. So that's also something that I love to do.
Speaker 3:I'm a candle maker. I make candles, yeah, so I love to make candles. It's very therapeutic for me. So anything that brings me joy, I'm gonna do it more often, and that's really my motto throughout life now, because life is very short and we don't know when it's our time, so I really just love to be able to do the things in a routine that works for me. I had to stop telling myself I don't have time, because we all have the same 24 hours. I'm gonna make time for the things I want to do, so that's also my motto. Like I'm gonna make sure I make the time. It's not that I don't have the time, because I do, and so we all do. So that's really my message Do the things you love to do more often.
Speaker 2:Janice, that's great. I mean it sounds like you've got some really good practices. I remember when I first heard you talking about affirmations and I'm a counselor and so I oftentimes talk about affirmations with my clients but I think that it's something that people don't realize how powerful they can be, and so I just wonder if you could say a little bit about, like, how you use affirmations, because I think it's one of those things that we talk about but we don't always do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So for me, I love to journal. I like to go on Pinterest and find quotes and put them in my phone. That's something that I do every day. And Dang, I do it every day. Like I'm finding quotes every day. You should see my notes. It's full of quotes and just if because I like to go back and reflect and to really just you know, see, oh dang like if I'm having a bad day, oh, I can go to my notes and go do my quotes, and that would something like that will make my day. So being able to have that insight is very helpful. And I also what I do.
Speaker 3:I like sticky notes, write down affirmations and put them on my mirror. I have quite a few mirrors in my house, so I stick those on my mirror every morning. I'm just saying those affirmations out loud every day. Every morning, I'm in the mirror and I am saying those affirmations. I don't know if it's some voodoo, but it really works. It really works, it works. And I thought I was crazy because my daughter, she would come in the restaurant and be like what are you talking to? And I'm like I'm talking to myself. This is what you're probably gonna be doing when you're my age. So she's starting to. Also my daughter, she's five years old and she's starting to pick up habits that I do, which I love. I love to see her picking up those habits because she see that I'm pouring the positivity inside of me and she's getting that and she's taking that to school and taking that to her other family. So it's just it's amazing. It's amazing how much words can really make a difference in how it can set the tone for the day.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, it retains your brain. It does, yes, it does, oh, fantastic. So it sounds like these routines really helped you get through a difficult time and now they're part of who you are and who your daughter is becoming. Yes, yes, oh, that's really neat.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, that's really neat. Honestly, me, looking back in the beginning of the year to now, it's like a drastic change and it's just sometimes I just look back and be like wow, Like I can't believe this is where I am now, Like I know we're supposed to grow, this is, you know, it's supposed to happen as you age. But wow, to really live in that moment, be present and to reflect it really, just it changes my perspective of adulthood. You know how people say. You know adulthood isn't easy. It is not easy, but it can be. If all you do is, you know, your self care, doing the things you love to do more often, it can be easier. But I feel like a lot of times we do make our lives harder than what it can be and I feel like that's what I used to do. I used to make my life harder than it can be and since I changed that trajectory, everything just has been flowing. In a way. For me that's like that I'm just so grateful for.
Speaker 3:I'm very grateful.
Speaker 2:That's really powerful when you think back to a year ago. I mean, you talk about how we make our lives harder than they need to be. I think about how we oftentimes we don't recognize the difference between pain and suffering, and you know that pain is that one time or that you know incident that happens, but the suffering is what we do to ourselves to perpetuate the pain. And you know that sometimes our attitudes can make us continue to suffer, or our perspective, and so I think that's kind of what you're saying.
Speaker 3:Yes, and also being okay with removing yourself from people doesn't no longer serve a person we're along with. Like I'm like I used to be a people pleaser or I don't know, maybe a people pleaser or just I don't know. I don't think I was a people pleaser, but I'm just a kind person, I'm very nurturing, I'm very caring. I mean I do have those good traits. But I just feel like now it's about my peace and not saying that I don't care about anybody else's peace, but my peace comes first, and when my peace is being disturbed, I either remove myself or I have to remove that person.
Speaker 3:That's also something I've learned this year being okay with removing people Because people are temporary, unfortunately, but it's the truth, and it can hurt, but it's okay because we can just get through it. Time heals all it really does heal, and everybody's journey is different. Everybody's timeframe is different. I try not to look at other people's journey for healing, because healing looks different for everybody and it's really just all about how you deal with your healing journey as well.
Speaker 2:So yeah, what's been most helpful for you. Do you think in your journey, shanice?
Speaker 3:I think what keeps me going are my self-care routine, really doing those things every day. I mean it really like not saying every day is going to be a good day, because I mean that's just impossible. Life happens, things happen Like my uncle passing away unexpectedly.
Speaker 3:You know that's life happens. So still just being able to breathe and still do the things that you love to do, it really just telling myself, just talking those affirmations and doing the yoga and doing all those things, those things really do help. It makes a big difference. It really does.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. You have so much wisdom to share. I want to kind of wrap things up. I wonder if you have an affirmation that is really resonating with you right now, these days.
Speaker 3:Okay, now I'm going to pick up my phone and grab it. I have a lot, but for right now, let's see orry. Sorry, buddy, do not be confused.
Speaker 2:I have a huge really.
Speaker 3:Okay. So this one kind of aligns with my personal life and also with my work. So sometimes we think that healing means isolation, but most times healing looks like community, and that is really what it is. You cannot get through your healing alone when you're that's talking to a therapist, a trusted person, a co-worker. We need a community in order to heal, but that don't mean you have to isolate and think you have to do everything on your own, because I also was like that. I felt like I had to isolate and not be able to talk to someone about how I'm feeling, and, honestly, that's not the truth we need one another.
Speaker 3:We need a community, we need someone to talk to. So just a quick message, a quick reminder Do not feel like you need to be alone in your healing journey. There are people that's there to talk to, to vent to. There's always someone. So I think, being more our mental health, I feel like that's something that we need to just really talk about, because a lot of what I see as being a community health worker a lot of times people really don't even need, like, the resources. Sometimes people just need to listen in here. Sometimes people just need to be heard. Sometimes people don't always want to be saved, they just want you to listen. So, yes, it's okay to isolate, but just know that there's always somebody that's there if you need to vent to.
Speaker 2:I love that, shanice. I think one of my students a long time ago said that we put the community and community health worker, and that just always stuck with me, because I think that that is the real part that makes community health workers special is not always the resources, but it's that community piece. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing all this wisdom and your experience. Do you have any final words that you'd like to share?
Speaker 3:I just I want to thank you again for having me on here and also the. The self care society group is truly amazing to be a part of this group, like it's truly just impacting my life for the better and just getting those weekly sessions if I'm having a bad day, it can turn my day into a good day. That's how I look at the self care group, so I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you, shanice. I'm so glad to hear that and I'm so glad to hear that it's made a difference for you. And, yeah, I look forward to hearing more about your journey and about your, your future, because I think getting a master's in social work is a really neat direction for you to take and you have so much to share with folks.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you and thanks for listening. Once again. My guest is Shanice Melvin, a community health worker with Celebrate One in Ohio. Join us next time for the self care society and we appreciate you joining us today and spending this time. Remember that self care is not selfish, it's caring for ourselves. So have a great week and we'll see you next time. Thanks, shanice. Thank you. That concludes this week's episode. And remember, it's not selfish, it's self care.