Hi there. There's been a lot of talk about hitting a pandemic wall. That point in this pandemic marathon,

when you're not really sure how you're going to make it through a day, it's a lot. So we have

an episode from last year, we think we'll help you keep going. It's all about ways to support yourself

and preserve your energy. We hope you like it. This is Life Kit. I'm Shreen Marisol Maraji, and my

guest today is Rachel Wilkerson Miller. She's the author of The Art of Showing Up.

It's a guide for people who crave deeper relationships and more connection with friends and loved ones.

Hi Rachel. Hi how are you? I am good. I'm in my closet with a cup of tea. Where are you right now?

I am sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee. On this episode of Life Kit, the art of showing up

for yourself. Well I think we've all heard that metaphor about you know you have to put on your own

oxygen mask before you help anyone put out in their oxygen mask. It's sort of a reminder that

you have to take care of yourself if you're going to take care of other people. And I believe that I

also think that most people think that is true for everybody who is not them, and they sort of

think that they're the exception to the rule, and it's so easy to say like well yeah that's true

in theory, but like here's six different reasons why that couldn't possibly apply to me right now.

Grab a beverage and join us.

Rachel Wilkerson Miller firmly believes that you can't fully show up for the people in your life

and tell you know how to do the same for yourself. So where do you start? You can't properly

show up for other people if you don't really know who you are and what your needs are and kind of

have a sense of what your boundaries are because so much of showing up is about setting boundaries,

respecting boundaries and sort of working within a framework up here's who I am and here's what I

can offer you in this exact moment. And so I think it's really important to just sit down and

think about okay who am I? What do I want? What are my needs? How can I meet those? How can I ask

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