In this episode of Cowgirl Artists of America's podcast, Megan Wimberly, founder of Cowgirl Artists of America, shares 14 essential wellness and self-care tips for artists. Listen to the complete podcast to dive deep into all the tips and apply them to enhance your well-being and enjoy a more fulfilling life along with your art career.

Do not forget, Cowgirl Artists of America's enrollment opens on August 1st. Make sure to follow us:

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(0:00) Hi, welcome to Cowgirl Artists of America's podcast. I'm your host and the founder of CGA, (0:06) Megan Wimberly. Today our topic is going to be wellness and self-care.

I feel like these two (0:12) words are kind of buzzwords and often either we don't know what they mean or we misunderstand or (0:16) there can also be different understandings but I think often we start thinking about wellness as (0:23) something or self-care as things that we have to spend money on and while sometimes things that (0:28) cost money like say a massage can definitely be part of a self-care routine, there are many simple (0:34) steps and actions you can take in your daily life. In fact, I would say that the most important thing (0:40) is that you do take consistent action each day or each week to help ensure that you have long-term (0:47) well-being. So we're going to be talking about some wellness tips, 14 wellness tips.

These (0:54) originally appeared on in our member space for our wellness challenge in June but we also have (1:03) now released these to the public through our blog and I wanted to do a podcast on them. So if you (1:07) already read the blog, this will be kind of a reiteration of that and if you haven't then now (1:11) you don't have to read it unless you want. But one quick little note before we begin is that if (1:19) you are like, oh the member space, how do I access that? Well that is for our members and in August (1:25) we will have open enrollment.

So if you've been thinking you want to become a member of CGA, (1:29) check out cowgirlartistsofamerica.org. There's tons of info on the facts there about how you can (1:35) join, what that looks like, all of that. So take a look there, look at the facts and let us know if (1:40) you have any questions at info at cowgirlartistsofamerica.org. Now without further ado, let's talk (1:47) about these 14 wellness tips. So a lot of times I think people who are not artists think artists (1:54) just dance around their studios blissfully creating art and those of us who are working (2:00) artists know that that's not true.

The art, an art career can be very very challenging and stressful. (2:06) It requires a lot of drive and initiative and to the bane of most artists, it requires a lot of (2:11) time on the computer and on our phone marketing and checking in and doing all of those things (2:16) and it can be so easy to push ourselves in really unhealthy ways or neglect to take care of ourselves (2:22) and remember that we are doing everything that we do from this body that we occupy and so if we're (2:28) not taking care of our body and our brain, we're going to ultimately have some problems and we're (2:33) not going to be able to have so much longevity or enjoy our life so much. So here are the first, (2:39) here are the 14 tips.

Tip one is to eat to fuel your life. Now what works for one person may not (2:47) work for another and this really is in part about checking in with yourself and what helps you to (2:52) feel good and if there are any foods that feel bad to you. I know for me, I have a major problem with (2:57) sugar.

If I eat very much sugar, I'm going to feel so tired. My brain is going to be foggy. I just (3:02) will not be my best so I personally know that I have to limit my sugar a lot.

Now that being said, (3:08) there are foods obviously that we want to make sure we're getting enough of so we're getting our (3:11) vitamins and nutrients. I'm not a dietician so I'm not going to go into those details (3:18) but I would encourage you to find out what works well for you and if you need to talk to somebody (3:23) to help you figure that out to do that. Again, our food is our fuel.

Tip number two is embrace the (3:30) power of no. Now some of these might feel surprising to you for self-care and wellness but (3:36) when you say yes to something and I think a lot of us feel a lot more comfortable saying (3:41) yes to something. If you say yes to something, you are automatically still saying no to something (3:48) else.

So anytime you say yes to something, ask yourself, what am I saying no to? So if you're, (3:56) if you've got a friend or a family member that maybe keeps asking you to come and help them (4:00) with something and of course we want to help our friends and family but maybe this person is asking (4:03) all the time and you keep saying yes to them, you might be saying no to yourself. You might be (4:09) saying no to your career. It's so important that we pay attention to what we are turning down when (4:15) we accept something else.

Even for things that are good that we want and not helping people is (4:21) good but you know what I mean like things that are good for our business. Whenever we say yes to (4:27) something, we're inevitably going to have to say no to another opportunity. So just being really (4:31) mindful not forgetting that when we say yes, we're saying no and so sometimes it's better to say no (4:38) to something so that we can say yes to the thing we want to say yes to.

Tip number three is to (4:44) prioritize your sleep. Now I am going to tell you a fact in a second that blew my mind. Honestly, (4:52) well we'll talk about it in a second.

Okay, I want to ask you. I'm going to give you the chance to guess. (4:56) How long do you think the average person spends sleeping? How long do you think the average person (5:04) spends sleeping? So the average person spends 26 years of their life sleeping.

Oh my gosh. You guys (5:13) when I first, truly when I first read that, I had this mini like meltdown in my head and I was like (5:20) oh my gosh I'm losing 26 years of my life. I have got to get with it on making these goals happen.

(5:27) I have things I want to accomplish and I kind of like internally just lost it for a second and then (5:33) I like kind of reframed it and I thought you know if our bodies are designed that we need 26 years (5:40) of sleep for the average lifespan, that means that that is something really important to being human (5:47) and that how can I enhance that and fully appreciate and enjoy that. So part of that can be (5:54) like getting the most comfortable bed that you can afford if that's part of it. You know making (6:00) sure you have a good place to sleep.

Part of it is embracing sleep, not seeing it as something (6:05) that is taking away time because when we sleep we're able, honestly too there's studies now that (6:12) show like when you're learning something sometimes if you stop and you go take a nap your brain will (6:17) process that into like the next series of, I am not a neurologist I don't know how to explain this, (6:22) but basically like you're learning it and when you sleep your brain processes it and sorts it into (6:27) where it needs to go so that you understand it better and you fully understand it and you can (6:30) understand it in new ways. So sleep really does enhance our ability to do things. So here are a (6:37) couple of tips if you struggle with sleep.

One of the first things that helps me a lot is that I (6:43) stop doing any office based work after like five or six. I've noticed that if I'm checking emails (6:49) at seven o'clock inevitably something's gonna come in that I'm gonna feel like either I gotta answer (6:54) this right away or I'll just answer it real quick and that does not help my brain and my body start (7:02) winding down for the night. Now I know a lot of artists like to paint in the evening and I'm not (7:06) saying that you should do that or like to create an evening.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do that (7:09) but consider taking that office work, that digital work, the screen work, consider an end time to (7:17) that for your day so that you can start winding down. I find some of those things really ramp me (7:23) up. Now I also think sometimes before bed if you have trouble sleeping to help you relax do some (7:29) deep stretching or some yoga.

There's different exercises that you can do. You can read some more (7:35) tips on the blog. I'm not going to go through all of them but one of the other things that I want (7:39) to share.

I know that I really do struggle with getting good sleep and falling asleep (7:45) and I know that for me that that is mostly from just anxiety and my brain won't turn off because (7:50) I have so much to do and I just get ideas and my brain won't stop thinking about all of the things (7:55) and it's really hard right now for me to go to sleep. I totally understand that that's a problem (8:01) and I'm working on it but one of the only things that really works for me right now is to watch a (8:07) like a sitcom or something on my phone at night so that I could give my brain something else to (8:14) focus on. A few things if you're going to try this.

First of all I'm not saying it's healthy (8:18) and it's not necessarily the best strategy but it's a solution if you struggle with this but (8:25) it may not work for you. Now I turn my brightness down all the way when I'm doing this and I also (8:30) turn the volume down as low as I can keep it where I can still hear it and then I try to find a show (8:36) that is not stressful it doesn't have a lot of variation in volume and often I just watch the (8:41) same thing over and over like the same series over and over because it won't keep me awake (8:46) getting interested and invested in the storyline. I already know it's going to happen.

(8:50) Tip number four is try relaxing hobbies. I think a lot of us artists make excuses for not recreating (8:58) and not having hobbies because we're like I'm living my passion why do I need a hobby? Well (9:03) the reality is that yes we hopefully are super passionate and enjoy our art however getting (9:10) outside of the studio and going and riding your horse or camping or playing games with your kids (9:15) or whatever it is those things are great for giving your brain a chance to expand and to step (9:23) away and to come back with fresh eyes so do not underestimate the power of having hobbies outside (9:28) of your passion of art. Tip number five is to observe and notice.

Observe and notice your (9:35) behaviors your emotions and your responses. Being able to be an observer of yourself allows you to (9:40) be more mindful and purposeful in your life. Try not to be judgmental about what you see.

Notice (9:46) it and then ponder it. Bring curiosity and not judgment to what you observe then you can approach (9:51) yourself with gentleness for the things you want to change. Tip number six is turning trials into (9:57) training ground.

One of the most powerful things I've learned is that when I feel frustrated by (10:25) a situation or a person I try to ask myself what lessons do I have to learn from this? Is there (10:30) something that I've done to continually experience this issue? Is there something I need to change? (10:35) A boundary I need to set? Something I need to stop doing? I know this problem really this probably (10:42) really does seem like an odd wellness tip but when we place blame everywhere but ourselves we give (10:47) away our power and live in a mindset of constant victimhood. How can we possibly grow with that (10:53) mindset? We can't. We will constantly be stuck because we're giving away all our power by saying (10:59) it's only other people that are the problem and refusing to see the role that we play.

In what areas can you (11:25) reclaim your power? In what areas do you need to stop being passive in your life and take ownership? (11:32) Now I do want to note I was really hesitant to use the word victimhood in this but (11:37) because I think it's one of those words that can mean different things to different people and it (11:41) has been misused in ways that are harmful but I did feel like it was an important term to use here (11:46) because it's talking about giving up our power. Now that being said, victims do exist and trauma (11:51) can have hugely negative grasp on our lives so making sure to seek professional help when you (11:57) need it, finding a good therapist, and if you're currently experiencing violence, abuse, please (12:05) seek professional help in a safe way. Tip number six is rituals and habits.

How can you bring mindfulness to your day? Even if you don't have a lot of time see if (13:07) you can carve away five or ten minutes to set an intention for the day and stretch and journal (13:12) or read something encouraging. This has really helped me a lot and I'm still finding out the (13:17) ritual that works for me because I haven't been doing this for very long and I'm also (13:22) observing like I talked about earlier to see how I can improve and where I'm failing in this (13:27) but one of the most impactful things I've been doing is that every day that is a work day I set (13:34) an intention and maybe I should do it for the weekend too but I set an intention that maybe (13:38) this day I want it to feel what way I want it to feel grounded purposeful and focused or whatever (13:45) it is the intention changes every day but as I go throughout my day which can sometimes be (13:50) stressful or get off kilter or be absolutely perfect but as I go throughout the day when (13:55) I encounter various things I remember that intention I set and it really has been making (14:00) a huge difference. We've got some specific tips for morning routines on the blog if you want to (14:06) read more but I'm not going to go through all of those.

I am a (14:31) person who's healthy. I am a person who's physically fit. I am a runner.

I suppose you could do that for (16:04) painting or for your work if you're uh try like you're having a hard time getting back into your (16:09) art practice or something but just keep in mind for me I find that when I listen what I'm listening (16:15) to can affect the way I'm painting and so just be aware that that may or may not be something you (16:21) want to use for your work. Okay real quick I want to take a break to tell y'all about our open call (16:28) for Women's Work 2025. So if you have been following us on Instagram you've probably seen (16:34) maybe in Western Art Collector, Art of the West, Southwest Art Magazine this all this um information (16:41) about Women's Work that's opening in August.

The application closes on September 30th so don't delay make sure you get (17:27) that in and if you have any questions you can shoot us an email at info at cowgirlartistsofamerica.org (17:32) you can also find the link to the prospectus on our Instagram at cowgirlartistsofamerica. (17:38) All right back to the tips tip number eight is to calm your mind with deep breathing so it's amazing (17:45) how much we can ball up our breath in our body when we're feeling stressed see if you can practice (17:49) the pause of breathing deep and relaxing your muscles even if something is stressing you out (17:55) shallow breaths and tense muscles are not going to help you out so see if you can try to relax (18:00) and oxygenate your brain. Tip number nine oh this one is probably my worst one drink plenty (18:07) of water I don't know about you but I will definitely drink if I'm out working outside (18:12) but if I'm in my studio or doing office work I just don't really get thirsty so one way I'm trying (18:19) to help remedy this is that I add a little bit of a sugar-free electrolyte mix that's flavored to my (18:26) water just if you do that be aware you probably want to avoid aspartame and sucralose which can (18:31) cause headaches and things you could also make smoothies and add coconut water instead of milk (18:36) or yogurt to get a little bit of extra hydration but um I don't know I'm bad at this one I'm trying (18:43) to get better water is so important and being well hydrated prevents a whole lot of problems (18:49) so we would all probably just feel a lot better if we drink a lot of water.

Oh boundaries I love boundaries (20:42) boundaries are your expectations for how someone will treat you and how you will allow yourself to (20:47) behave things that you are and aren't okay with not having boundaries will cause you to feel frustrated (20:53) resentful overworked stressed the list goes on and on but here are some important things for (20:59) you to remember about boundaries only you can decide your boundaries that means you have to (21:05) take the time to think about what is and isn't okay with you what you're willing to put up with (21:10) what is a deal breaker etc only you can uphold your boundaries it is your job to communicate (21:17) and uphold your boundaries people cannot read your mind and if you're expecting them to do that (21:23) you got to change because that's not reasonable nobody can read your mind so you got to communicate (21:26) and you got to uphold your boundaries when you communicate your boundaries some people will get (21:31) upset you may lose friends or you just may fight for a minute it's okay if the boundary is important (21:36) to you it is worth having people in your life that respect those boundaries and are willing to make (21:41) changes so that they're treating you with the respect that you feel that you deserve or in the (21:45) ways that you need to be treated if your boundaries don't align with the way someone else can behave (21:50) then maybe that's just not right for the two of you you know if a friend can't respect whatever (21:56) boundary is you're setting that doesn't mean either one of you are necessarily right or wrong people (21:59) can have different values but again it goes back to if this isn't okay with you and this person is (22:07) going to continue to treat you that way then you know maybe explore that a little bit maybe you two (22:13) aren't the best match for being really good friends i don't want to ruin any friendships (22:16) here but you know what i'm saying like people need to treat you the way that you need to be (22:20) treated and if they can't then it doesn't seem like a good match upholding a boundary isn't mean (22:25) and can be communicated gently here's an example when i was a teacher i had a student who used to (22:30) get very frustrated when he was frustrated he would get loud and like yell talk over me i would (22:36) like i would be talking and he would start yell talking over me and i would just calmly say (22:41) i will talk to you when your voice is as calm as mine and then i would turn my chair around and go (22:47) back to what i was doing and every time he did it i would do the same thing immediately it did not (22:52) take him long to realize that he would get nowhere unless he spoke to me calmly a great tip and as (22:59) shown in this example is keep your boundary i focused i will talk to you when boundaries with (23:06) others may sound like i don't answer emails after 5 p.m i will talk to you as long as you aren't (23:11) putting me down i work on my art between 10 a.m and 5 p.m and i can schedule xyz outside of those (23:16) times boundaries with yourself because yes ladies we need them because sometimes we don't honor and (23:22) men we don't honor our boundaries for ourselves we need to honor those boundaries for ourselves (23:27) and hold ourselves accountable to what our boundaries are so you might have to repeat to (23:32) yours yourself for your own boundary i don't answer emails at 5 p.m when you catch yourself doing it (23:36) i don't answer emails after 5 p.m i won't make a big decision for 48 hours i won't put myself down (23:42) these are some boundaries that you might have with yourself now again with um setting boundaries (23:50) sometimes there can be situations where setting a boundary may not be safe and so going back to if (23:56) anyone listening is experiencing abuse please be careful setting a boundary may not be the (24:01) best place to start depending on your situation what might be more important is that you find (24:06) professional help for someone that can help you navigate that and get to safety no one deserves (24:11) to be abused tip number 13 practice positive self-talk do you talk to yourself in ways that (24:18) you would never let others speak to you or maybe you let others speak to you in that way because (24:23) that's how you're speaking to yourself the voice in your head is very powerful and our thoughts (24:28) can influence our reality so try this practice for yourself and when you find yourself being (24:34) judgmental of someone else this is a practice that i started doing a couple years ago and i (24:39) found it hugely impactful and it's just about turning a negative judgment into something (24:44) positive um an example unfortunately many women and many men struggle with physical um the way (24:53) they see their their body and so a common thing for women they might say is i hate my thighs they (24:59) are so ugly this is something i found myself saying every once in a while in my head and i (25:03) didn't like that i was talking to myself that way so instead i when i caught myself doing that i (25:09) would say i love my thighs they allow me to go on hikes and see beautiful places and it really turned (25:15) that feeling inside of me to something different now the next one is when we're judgmental towards (25:20) other people there's lots of ways we can be judgmental towards other people and unfortunately (25:25) society is such that sometimes we're judgmental about i mean a lot of things but sometimes about (25:30) say physical appearance or something and i wish that i could say that i never had any mean thought (25:36) pop into my head but i'm human and it happens and i don't like it and so luckily it doesn't (25:42) happen a lot for me because i've really worked on just not being so judgmental towards myself (25:46) or others but it still happens and so if i notice myself saying you know oh yikes that person (25:52) whatever um i would stop that thought and then i would say something in my head like wow that person (25:59) is so beautiful and again the same with towards myself it changes the way we see ourselves it (26:05) changes the way we see each other and i think any practice we can bring into our lives that helps us (26:10) to be more loving to our neighbor is a worthwhile practice um so see if you can practice this see if (26:16) it doesn't help you um find more generosity and less judgment towards yourself and towards other (26:21) people tip number 14 build confidence with affirmations so this kind of goes back to that (26:30) voice in our set in our head but affirmations are and it also relates back to the whole i am a person (26:37) who's healthier i am a runner thing affirmations are a positive talk about ourselves for what we (26:45) want to become so i believe in myself to handle this challenge with grace and wisdom (26:52) is an example another example i am a smart capable woman i am a professional artist and i run my (26:59) business well i am a grounded person who makes decisions from a place of peace without being (27:05) rushed i didn't really think about it until this moment um but so much of this is focused on (27:13) the i right all of this is about and that makes so much sense because truly coming back to what (27:21) helps us to be well and healthy and happy and pursue our passions it comes from what's inside (27:26) of us and what we put out into the world comes from what's inside of us and so it makes so much (27:31) sense that to develop uh long-term wellness and to take care of ourselves it takes us looking (27:37) internally to find that place of power and strength and whatever our reality is while also (27:45) owning up to when we fail or owning up to what we can do better uh finding the ways in which we can (27:51) set those boundaries that it's the culmination of being able to be kind and gentle with yourself (28:00) while also taking ownership and so i think if you practice these um tips i think it will help (28:07) you and i i know it has helped me and so i can say that and i hope that you find it helpful if (28:12) you want to read the full um blog you can do so at cowgirlartistsofamerica.org don't forget (28:19) enrollment opens in august so we hope that we will have some new members joining us and (28:24) some members re-enrolling um we believe that cowgirlartistsofamerica is really helping (28:29) a lot of women to build their art career if you have any questions email us at (28:34) info at cowgirlartistsofamerica.org happy creating