Meet Ellen Donovan, a seasoned registered nurse and president of One Life Consulting. In the soon-available book, The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care: 25 Tools for Life, Ellen shares her journey from caregiving to self-care advocacy. She emphasizes the importance of exercise as a foundational tool and offers practical steps for beginners to make exercise a sustainable priority, focusing on setting realistic goals, journaling, and meaningful rewards.
The Wellness Universe (WU): Hello Ellen, please tell us about yourself and what inspired you to write your chapter in the book The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care: 25 Tools For Life.
[name with initials in brackets]:
Ellen (ED): I’ve been a registered nurse for over 30 years, and I’ve spent most of my career working with older adults, first as a medical/surgical nurse in a hospital setting, then in several capacities in long-term and in-home care. Throughout my career, I’ve always noticed that seniors have better outcomes when supported by caring, knowledgeable professionals willing to advocate for them, so a few years ago I decided to launch my own business, One Life Consulting, to help these older adults navigate the complex and confusing world of late-life care.
As I suspected, there’s an incredible need for the services One Life Consulting offers, and our seniors have kept us very busy right from the start. As time went on, however, I realized that it wasn’t just the seniors who needed help. It was their adult children who were struggling the most. They often felt inadequate and experienced a sense of guilt as they struggled to provide the same care their parents gave them earlier in life. They were exhausted and stressed to the nines. They sometimes grew depressed and stopped caring for themselves. They engaged me for help with more than their parents’ situation. They needed help with their situation.
So, I began counseling the adult children on the importance of self-care, which was natural for me because I’ve always practiced it personally, and I’d been informally advocating for self-care for decades. I’m a firm believer that you can’t take care of others effectively without first taking care of yourself. Self-care is “Caregiving 101,” although most caregivers fail to realize this.
So great has been the demand for self-care counseling and advice that I’ve created an email newsletter called “Sustenance,” which is devoted entirely to self-care. The response to the newsletter has been awesome, and it’s something my clients and readers now look forward to each month. I also enjoy speaking to groups and organizations about the importance of self-care. There’s something about the face-to-face nature of this that really appeals to me, and I believe audiences appreciate it as well.
My approach to self-care starts with movement, and I spend lots of time in my practice introducing clients, many of whom have never really moved their bodies with any purpose or consistency, to the life-changing benefits of exercise. I’ve seen it improve so many people’s lives that I’ve begun focusing on this as a primary offering, and this has been the inspiration behind my chapter in the book.
WU: What tool do you share in this book, and what can we expect to experience as a result of using this tool?
ED: Rather than a single tool, I offer a series of tools aimed at helping someone who has never really exercised get started with this life-changing endeavor and eventually make it a non-negotiable priority in their life.
I talk about the importance of keeping an exercise journal, which is something I’ve found to be a key element of any successful exercise program. There’s an old saying, “That which is measured, improves,” and a journal is a great way to record one’s progress. It’s also a great way to record any important thoughts or grand realizations that may occur during exercise, and I’ve found that memorializing these shortly after they happen is the best way to ensure that they get acted upon.
I address the importance of goal setting but underscore the notion that goals must be realistic. I’ve seen many otherwise well-meaning people set lofty goals that they can never be accomplished, thus sabotaging their own program.
A weekly exercise plan is another tool that I talk about in my chapter. I’ve found that those who create their exercise schedule at the beginning of each week are more likely to follow it, as they can better account for important meetings, work commitments, or other conflicts.
I talk a lot about rewards. They’re important. Nobody can be 100 percent perfect every single day. If you don’t bend occasionally, you will eventually break, and when it comes to an exercise program, this needs to be avoided. Take days off, have that cheat meal, and enjoy your life. Attempting to be too strict with oneself is the primary reason why most New Year’s resolutions quickly fail. We’re not looking for perfection, but we are looking for sustainability.
Lastly, I urge readers to “ignore the mirror” during their exercise journey. The benefits of exercise go way beyond one’s physical appearance, and the mirror simply can’t reflect the true progress one makes. There are many ways to gauge success, and the mirror is not one of them.
WU: How can people who feel they have a very full life make time for exercise?
ED: My mother-in-law, Rita, used to preach to me, “Ellen, pay yourself first.” She was referring more to finances than anything else, but her advice applies every bit as much to exercise. We all have busy lives, and it can feel exasperating to attempt to set aside time for exercise. But the truth is that most people have more free time in a typical day than they might realize, and it doesn’t take very long to squeeze in a workout. Consider waking up a half-hour earlier or replacing some of your evening television or social media time with some basic body movements. Even small amounts of movement can make a significant difference and can be easier to fit into your day than you might think. Make exercise time non-negotiable, and you’ll be on your way to a better life!
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The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care, 25 Tools for Life will be available January 2025!
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