4-Minute Dual-Care Practice

Time needed: 4 minutes (90-90-120 seconds)

Setting: When supporting someone while maintaining your own wellbeing

Purpose: Balancing care for others with self-preservation

Energy Inventory Check (90 seconds)

What: Before/during supporting someone:

- Quick scan of your current energy reserves (1-10)

- Notice what you need to sustain yourself through this

- Identify your support capacity right now (what you can/can't offer)

- Set one gentle boundary to protect your wellbeing

Notice: Where you feel depleted vs resourced, any guilt about having limits, what support feels sustainable

Why: Prevents over-giving, maintains realistic expectations, enables sustainable care

Simultaneous Nourishing (90 seconds)

What: While offering support:

- Keep feet grounded, breathe consciously

- Find ways support can also nourish you (connection, purpose, meaning)

- Notice what you're learning or gaining from this interaction

- Let their healing contribute to yours where appropriate

Notice: How support can be mutual without being transactional, where you feel energized by giving, natural reciprocity

Why: Prevents caregiver depletion, recognizes interconnected wellbeing, builds sustainable support patterns

Restoration Planning (120 seconds)

What: Plan your post-support care:

- Identify one thing you'll do to restore after this

- Recognize what supporting this person has cost you

- Plan how to process/discharge any emotions you've absorbed

- Set intention for returning to your own needs

Notice: What restoration feels most necessary, any difficulty prioritizing your needs, how to transition back to self-care

Why: Ensures recovery from supporting others, prevents accumulated depletion, maintains long-term caring capacity

Closing: Appreciate yourself as someone who both gives and needs care

Notice: How balanced approach to support affects sustainability

Why: Honors both your caring nature and your human needs

Tips:

- Supporting others while depleted helps no one

- Your wellbeing enables better support for others

- Boundaries are acts of love, not selfishness

- Small self-care during support counts

- Model healthy self-care through your example