Shantelle Thompson is a mum, athlete, entrepreneur, storyteller, and mentor.
A proud Barkindji and Ngiyampaa woman, three-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and mother of five, she holds a Medal in the Order of Australia for services to the Indigenous community of Victoria.
With so many responsibilities and passions, she credits her self-care practices with helping her navigate many of life’s challenges and opportunities.
Here are five of her favourite strategies for staying connected with herself and others, especially during tough times.
One way Shantelle practises self-care is by acknowledging all of her feelings and allowing herself to experience a wide range of emotions without judgement.
“I just want everyone to know that it is really OK to not be OK during these times. Even if you have a roof over your head. I have so much to be grateful for, but I also acknowledge that my feelings are valid at the same time,” says Shantelle.
Caring for herself with this mindset – one of self-compassion and emotional validation – helps her find the courage to speak up when she’s not OK.
“I can sit with my emotions and not be controlled by them. I give myself permission to feel my emotions, I acknowledge them, and I get curious,” she says.
Shantelle draws on many cultural practices for her self-care, including dadirri (deep listening).
“All of our languages have a word for deep listening. Actually creating space to listen to our hearts, listen to our bodies, that innate knowledge and intelligence that our hearts and our bodies come with over the noise that can happen in our head from social conditioning,” explains Shonelle.
“Being is a big part of our culture. Learning to be without the doing or without the needing of some sort of achievement or outcome at the end. It’s about finding a way to still the mind enough that the body can just catch up and just be for a little while.”
Shantelle is very intentional about her phone use, which helps to ease feelings of anxiety.
“It would make me consistently anxious,” she says of the time before she had systems in place to minimise her phone use.
Now she pays close attention to her screen time and stops using her phone after a certain time frame. She often leaves her phone in another room. She also uses an alarm clock and a wristwatch to avoid taking her phone to bed, and encourages her kids to do the same.
“The phone is the greatest thing, but I say to my kids: we have the power to turn it off. It has an off button for a reason.”
“I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got,” says Shantelle of navigating the uncertainty of snap lockdowns and changing times.
“It’s about going OK, this is a fact. How do I get comfortable with being uncomfortable?”
While this might not sound like traditional self-care, it helps Shantelle approach change with more resilience. She tries to make decisions that are grounded in reality, not wishful thinking.
One way to let go of things not in your control is to create a Worry Map. Once you’ve figured out exactly what’s in your control – and what’s not – you can make an action plan.
Shantelle also takes great care to embrace the basics: moving her body, eating nourishing food, getting out in nature, and placing her bare feet on the ground.
“Sticking to the basics of two fruits and five veggies a day, even if I’m still eating other junk food. Keeping my movement going, keeping grounded, and acknowledging when I’m not OK has been the biggest thing,” says Shantelle.
As her top five self-care tips illustrate, much of Shantelle’s self-care revolves around mindset.
Taking the time to sit with her emotions, practice self-awareness and self-compassion, and draw on the wisdom of her culture and ancestors are just some of the things that support Shantelle.
We hope there is something here that you can add to your own self-care toolkit.