We recently connected with Stephanie Brownell and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stephanie, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
The most important skill I have learned for self-care is how to slow down. A paradox of the 21st century is that the increased ability to maximize efficiency through the automation of labor, tasks, communication, etc. is often not nourishing in the way research shows is necessary for human beings to thrive. As generative AI has allowed even thinking to be accelerated and even avoidable, I have found practicing mindfulness to be integral to my well being. I have found it to be especially important when I am feeling the most pressed for time.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a psychotherapist and co-parent/ divorce coach with my own practice. My “brand” is an integrative approach to support clients in reclaiming – or even discovering for the first time – balance, and discovering ways to resolve conflict in both their intra- and inter- personal relationships. One of the areas I love to explore with clients is how they can access their own creativity as a resource for resilience and connection. It starts with being curious about the meaning they are making of their experiences and can be transformative as it has the potential to replace self-limiting beliefs.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Take time to be curious, practice gratitude, and know your values. I have been asked “how often do you really use your philosophy degree (undergraduate)?” The answer is every day! But you don’t need a degree to consider what do I know, how do I know it, is there more to know, is there another way? The answers to those questions will create a rich foundation upon which to make decisions. Which leads to a second skill: know your values. Be clear about what you value; align your actions in ways that honor them . Lastly, practice gratitude everyday.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
Generally, I believe, we all want to do our best. We certainly live in a competitive world that wildly celebrates top performance, wildly reinforced by social media. This projection of perfection is dangerous, it is an unattainable state and breeds loneliness. Perfectionism and loneliness are two states research shows to have strong correlations with anxiety, and loneliness as having the potential to be fatal. Athletes have found cross training to be an important antidote to avoid injury from overuse and improve overall fitness, most obviously it can prevent burnout. This approach is equally valuable off the court or field as well. Investing time in areas outside our strengths can create a broader foundation with which to engage in the world. We can admire expertise while also learning critical contextual implications that might not be apparent without wrestling around with unfamiliar concepts and materials, this leads back to our creative essence as human beings. Therefore, from a rational standpoint, I believe it is in our best interest to seek experiences outside our natural abilities and specializations; it can lead to more interesting and solid work. Perhaps the more important reason, however, is that it can encourage empathy and connection. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to hear the author Jeanette Winterson give a lecture on the purpose of art. One of the ideas I took away was that art communicates; and, in doing so, it requires imagination of both the artist and the consumer, it invites comprehension, connection. As the saying goes, it’s hard to bomb people when you know them. So, among other reasons, cross train for world peace!
Contact Info:
- Website: stephaniebrownell.com
- Linkedin: Stephanie Brownell
Image Credits
Photos by Emily Keeney
