Your Happy Hour - The Surprise of Self-Care

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

In this inspiring episode, we chat with Sally Stewart - Sales & Strategy Specialist - who shares her transformative journey from burnout to self-care, emphasizing the importance of listening to your body, building small, manageable changes in daily routines can have a big impact and embracing change to live a healthier, more fulfilled life.The Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

It's the Friday Feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here. Joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well, whatever it is, this moment is just for you. And we're back with another episode on the Fields podcast. This is the Your Happy Hour series.

And a very, very big welcome to a guest today that I'm so happy to chat to. And you're in the country that I'm yearning to go visit very soon. A big welcome to you, Sally, Stuart, to the Fieldspace, to the Your Happy Hour podcast. And we're still talking about the surprise of self-care this month. and just really excited to hear about your journey and what this means to you and yeah awesome well thank you Nicole for having me and I can say it's a nice sunny day in South Africa so sending good vibes away yeah I'm really excited to be speaking to you and everyone that's listening because it's a topic that's quite close to my heart and it's off

center from the normal corporate stuff that like I'm normally chatting about and it's something that I'm really passionate about. So, yeah, I'm excited to kick off because I feel like the whole subject about self-care is it can be like quite stigmatized in a way and people find it difficult, you know, it's like self-care is something that's hard. I have to like decompartmentalize what it is that I need to care about and how do I do it and how do I make the time and oh, does it cost me money or whatever it might be. I think a lot of people are quite prone to picking up the boundaries sometimes and it's difficult. It's a choice that you've got to make, you know, to actually invest in yourself.

So yeah, I'm excited to chat about a little bit of the things that I've gone through that hopefully can help people along the way. I love that. Yeah, and I agree with you. I think it's, you know, when I, when we came up with this theme, it kind of felt to me like, ooh, I don't really want to talk about this either. you know and and it's it's self-case something we we choose every day like like you mentioned and it doesn't have to be something that's separate from ourselves it's so much part of who we are so yeah tell me a

little bit about how you got to be where you are today and kind of where the journey has led you to leading the life that you're living yeah it's quite it's it's been an interesting journey I'm not going to lie like um I'll draw a little bit of context for everyone so I've been working and of the professional space for 22 years. I'm in media. I started young, you know, really had to work my way up quite quickly. And, yeah, I found myself in a precarious position which worked out for the best, you know. But I've held quite a few different roles in my time, you know, in media specifically.

And I maybe just want to start by drawing on something that I've noticed before I go to myself. Something that I've noticed about some of the people I've worked with, especially younger generations up and coming. And I say younger, but, you know, they are 20, 21, 22 years old. And it's something I'm quite passionate about in terms of trying to guide as much as possible, gently. Because what I noticed with a lot of these people who used to report to me and in

these, like, team dynamics and in corporate dynamics, they were getting like, signs of burnout really, really young and a lot of fatigue and a lot of demotivation and also like a little bit of irritation as to why things are not always going their way. And I was thinking about this topic and I think it's something that's really important to mention. I used to chat to my team, the younger guys especially, to ask them like, what did you do this weekend? You know, and they would say, oh, I just chilled, just watched Netflix. I slept. I lay on the couch all weekend. Some of them would go out like partying. And these are the same guys that were often demotivated, often with no energy, and often like dealing with a lot of pressures as well. And I could see

the struggle. And it made me realize how difficult it was for them to separate from the things that were easy to relax in a so-called relaxing manner to. So taking a conscious decision to step out of your space to try and regulate was something that wasn't on their wavelength at all. It's something that they had to try and get from social media or from Netflix or whatever it is. And it made me like really passionate about this because I was in a corporate space for quite a while and then I peaked quite young and I was managing a lot of people. I was going through a lot of mergers and I experienced like really, really bad burnouts. And it's something that people are talking about a lot lately.

But I didn't know what burnout was. I mean, typical A type personality. I was doing a thousand things. I'm like, I got this under control. And I just, the more that landed on my plate, the more I did. And I did it well. But I was functioning at such a high level. I didn't realize what was going on in my body.

And then my body started to talk to me, actually. It started shutting down and saying, okay, you know what, you're not going to stop. I'm going to stop for you. I think what really ended it is I went through like a bad breakup and then the job was like all encompassing and I'm like, you know what, enough is enough. And I packed up my house and I rented it out and I shoved everything in a big container I locked up the key and I booked a one-wide ticket to Barcelona. And my journey started there, which for me I think was quite interesting because I didn't have a plan.

It wasn't a conscious decision. It wasn't something that I had to take time out of my schedule to say, I'm going to go on a journey now. And I'm going to really prioritize myself. It was none of that. It was really hard and it was quite gruesome. And I woke up, I was like 33 years old in a hostel in Barcelona. And I'm like, what am I doing? So it was like a bit of a wake-up call.

But what essentially started happening is without a plan, I moved from one country to the next. I was really just retreating in a big way. So I wasn't talking to many people unless it was like checking in and checking out or ordering a coffee or something like that. I wasn't talking to many people. I had almost no screen time because I was traveling. I was walking like 10 to 20,000 steps a day naturally. And little things started to happen. So I got rid of all my headaches.

My back pain went away. I was completely present. Even though I was like maybe dealing with a lot of stuff, I needed that space just to walk. And if I did nothing but just walk all day, that was perfect. and I ended up going through Spain, Portugal, then popped across to Naples, and then I did Italy, and then did that for a couple of months, did some yoga along the way, because as much as you move, sometimes you need a ground, and I did find that every now and then I felt a little bit

flaty, and I just needed a space to stay for a week or so, so that really helped me. But what was interesting is I came back home to South Africa, and the minute I landed, I was like, I'm not ready to be here. I'm not interested. And I booked a ticket to time. So two weeks later, I was up. And I think everyone thought I was mad. And again, like, I kind of just hopped around in Thailand.

And it's kind of a safe space for me. I really resonate a lot with Thailand and its principles, its people. Yeah. And kind of what started happening is in Thailand, I started to do a lot more self-care practice. So it's almost like I'd done this. purging the previous couple of months in Europe. It's almost like I had to walk through everything. And in Thailand, I've found time for me.

And instead of focusing on everything that had happened to me or that I had been through or like that kind of stuff, the external things, in Thailand, I was like, okay, now I'm here and I'm ready to just work on me a little bit. And it took months to get there. but I think in hindsight what's was really cool is that when that journey came to an end and I decided to come home I came home wholeheartedly present in my own skin and I'd like I'd let go of everything around me all my like I said all my stuff was in storage and had nothing but the clothes in my bag and I got home and I made a very conscious decision not to unpack

So I came and I rented in Airbnb with no TV. And this is where the conscious self-care journeys like really started to unfold because it had been like maybe six months or so of traveling. Came back. I started working again and I'm like, okay, now I've got to integrate things into a day with work, you know. I started a really specific routine that I made up that worked for me. You know, it wasn't about following something else.

Yeah, I'd wake up in the morning and I would do thousand skips, for example, because I couldn't go walking. So I got on the balcony and I was skipping and then I'd do 10 minutes of meditation and a little bit of stretching. And I'd go to work and I'd do my thing and I was brutally honest with everyone around me. Like I just felt I was just, I was in my skin and it was such a nice feeling. And then I prioritize time to leave work early twice a week, which I had discussed with my boss to say, okay, now I'm going to go to training on these days. and I'm going to do this on this day, but I made it work in my schedule because I had to prioritize that. I started eating almost purely vegetarian, cut out alcohol, and I was training like six days

a week. So I was feeling so in control. I was in the best shape of my life. I was feeling healthy. But what was more important is that in the evening when I got home, I wasn't collapsing on the couch and just, you know, absorbing all the stuff that's around us all the time. I was reading and I was reading like really specific books and I was doing crystal work and I was drinking cinnamon tea and I was really trying to develop my own safe space and I actually started to do like a little journal to say, okay, how do I feel on this day? And I'd give myself ratings and to see if I slept better, for example, because I ate something in a certain way for the past couple of days.

Is it affecting my sleep? is it affecting my mood? So yeah, it's a long-winded way of saying. There's a lot that we can go through as humans, and it can be really difficult. But there's always a way to kind of work around it, and the control is really with you. So even small little principles,

bringing that into your space is so important. There's lots more I can talk about, but like I don't want to ram. No, no, that's perfect. And you know, I'm just smiling so much because for those who've kind of followed the podcast along, that's been a lot of what my journey was when I started this podcast and what spurred me to, you know, encouraged me to start it

was to have more conversations about these things. And I was also walking a ton, traveling a ton, shedding a lot of skin. And I feel like it's really beautiful for people to hear that, you know, it's important sometimes to take yourself out of the environment that you were in when you were feeling a lot of these things. And it's okay. It's okay to let go of that framework. It's okay to say I'm walking away from the life that I thought might have made me happy.

And I think that's the hardest part is that not everyone knows how to build a successful life beyond that. You know, like we always, and maybe your idea of success in the first chapter and the idea of success in the next chapter and of self-care, for example, looks different. I remember I kind of also went through this journey where I was becoming more mindful and healthy and all of that. But what I also noticed, and maybe it would be interesting to hear your take is at times where it was kind of going to have, I would sometimes want to slip back into, you know, the things that are the couch and the, you know, escape into the movies or, you know, whatever it is. How do you sustain the self-care? How do you kind of maintain that now? Look, I do love a good, like, Netflix show. I'm not going to say that I don't, especially now that I'm older and I have two kids and whatever time I can get, I'm like amazing.

I think doing small manageable things, so not being so hard on yourself, it's a big thing. And if I, like, maybe speak to people that are not familiar with nutrition or with not comfortable in exercise or anything like that, I would just say, find ways to. to incorporate it into your day that is not challenging. So, you know, something as simple as walking meetings. So like if you're in a corporate and you want to have a meeting with someone, instead of sitting in the canteen and chagging down a red bowl, go for a walk and have that conversation naturally out in the open. And, you know, that's one way of incorporating a little bit of exercise,

a little bit of fresh air, a new perspective on things. but there are tough decisions that you've got to make and you've got to hold yourself accountable for it. So catch yourself. So if you are on like hour two or three of scrolling and just watching Netflix and stuff like that, okay, enough is enough. It's like when you eat a pizza,

you don't need to eat the whole pizza. You can have a couple of slices, but you don't eat the whole thing. You know what I mean? So just holding yourself accountable and knowing what you want to do with your day when you have the time, like on the weekend, if you've got the time, build that space in to practice certain principles.

So whether it's incorporating something into your diet or your routine that you haven't had before, instead of thinking about taking things away, I like saying what am I going to add? Because if you're adding things in, automatically the other things need to leave, because you can't have it all. know what I mean? So if you're going to start making changes, what am I going to add to my day today?

And it's just about the choices you make on a daily basis as opposed to the choices you have to make for the rest of your life. So your life changes from day to day, but every single day is your decision. So if you want to wake up and be happy, you know, stand up, like, hold yourself accountable and say, you know what, I'm going to do everything I can in my power today to have a good day. And if it's just that, that's your goal, then I think you can accomplish a lot to then come back home and say, did I have a good day or did I not have a good day? And why? You know, and then you take that into your next day again. So small little changes to make a big difference. Yeah, I love that a lot. And I think also maybe in that question of like, did I have a

good day or did I not have a good day, it could be around not thinking about what would other people perception of what is a good day be like for me is like did i have a good day or what does that look like cultivating kind of a knowing of yourself and what's good for you because you know i think sometimes it's hard when you write down like things like that might have made your day a bad day and then you're like oh but other people starving you know or whatever that my comparison might be and so you're not really looking after yourself and i and i want to ask you um so the topics like the surprise of self And the reason we chose that was sometimes self-care can be so surprising. I remember when we spoke about this, this was a theme that actually was thought of in season

one already, but we just never got to it. And the conversation at the time was like, wow, why am I not doing more of this? Like, why is it so surprising that self-care is good for you? You know, why are we not like born-in-bred to like know these things? was that like that for you, like that you felt the surprise or what did that feel like? I would say that like your body knows what it needs and like it's your heart and your mind and all of these things that need different things from your day and from a self-care like regimen if I want to call it. I don't like the word resume because it sounds quite militant.

You know what I mean? So I reached a stage where my heart was just, um, It wasn't that it was unhappy. It's that it was like craving something. You know what I mean? And I knew that my life at this time wasn't working. And I still tap into that on a daily basis. And I think that the surprise factor comes in when you trust your body, when you do know that.

And you trust it wholeheartedly. Because for me, like going and spending the time at the spa or something like that, yeah, it's a form of self-care, but for me, a true self-care is being able to tap into your emotions and be completely brutally honest with yourself. Because you can, like, I don't know, like, swear everything. You can, like, really pull the wool over other people's eyes and pretend that everything's okay. But when you sit in a room on your own with nothing around you and no devices and nothing

to do, you know, how do you feel? And that's, sometimes I need to take myself away and then I'll, I'll, I will say to my husband, I'll be like, you know what, I feel uncomfortable or I don't want to do this, or I think we should maybe look at this or whatever, and I love the fact that I can have a relationship with him that we are so supportive of each other, no matter what the feelings are, we have a totally safe space to speak our minds and without judgments. And that, for me, brings me into a space where I feel like I can look after myself. Because if I'm not happy, for example,

or if I'm feeling really stressed, I can go to him and say, you know what, I'm feeling really stressed out. Can I have a couple of hours? Do you mind if I have a couple of hours to go and do my thing and you watch the kids, for example? He'd be like 100% no problem.

Because I've communicated with him what I need and he's allowed me the space to do that and vice versa. You know what I mean? And that's where relationships, healthy relationships, I think can really thrive is through that open communication. Yeah, I think that's the most surprising thing for me is that the answers are generally

something that you never anticipated. It's something that comes on a day-to-day basis when you check in with yourself. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I think we're, I sometimes also try, you know, kind of ask myself while I'm walking and like, hey, Nicole, like, how are you, you know, like really go in there with it. your inner child's kind of always there and it's wanting to talk to you but it's sometimes a bit scared because you're like you're going to dismiss it at times you know so of course we have to build like a relationship with ourselves that we like you said trust ourselves that we are holding safe

space and it does make it so much easier when somebody else like that you're living with then also allows you to feel safe and in that way so that's really beautiful I love that it's a beautiful gem also and on that topic i wanted to ask you about gems it's a little segment we do um that's kind of around gratitude but learning and so it's something that maybe in this past week you've felt or that's come up for you and for me it's been uh yeah also kind of just learning how to open my heart a bit more you know some things happened where like old chapters were kind of popping up a little bit going oh okay you haven't quite closed that you haven't quite you thought you'd healed it, you don't really think about it, but now there's this little glimmer of release that

you need, you know, and it's made me realize that I need to open my heart more to loving and being able to give and receive love. And so that was really a beautiful gem, and so I'm actively working on that one at the moment. What about for you? For me this week, or like in general? In the last week, was there something that's popped up for you? that you feel? Sure, so much, yeah. My life in the past couple of years has been nothing but turmoil. So as much as not nothing but turmoil, it's maybe a bit dramatic, but it's been very tumultuous, a lot of change. And this past week, I've been so grateful for time with my kids. I mean, I'm on maternity leave at the moment. I'm home in South Africa. I live in Dubai. So it's been a very

different work culture and like pace and everything for me there in terms of being outdoors. And I've found such beautiful moments in the past week. Just watching my little one play. So I've got a two and a half year old and a two month old. And it's been a ride. But my little one's name is Logan. And watching him play in the waves at the beach has been like amazing. because when we first got home, he was scared of the waves. And I grew up on the beach. Like, I'm a total coastal girl. And it didn't click to me that he'd never really seen waves.

I mean, we've lived in Dubai, but before that, I mean, we were in Mauritius and places with calm water. And he wasn't used to the waves and the noise and stuff like that, you know. So when we first got here, he was very catfoot to go and play. And actually on Mother's Day, this past weekend was Mother's Day in South Africa. My mom passed away three years ago, and that was a huge turning point for me and part of why the past couple years has been really tough. But on Mother's Day, we took the kids and a picnic and we went to the beach early, early morning,

and I actually have a place like a bench for my mom at the beach. And we just sat there and played in the way. and it was windy. It wasn't like a great beach day. And it was such an amazing morning because there was so much energy that the water was cold and the waves were breaking and he was laughing. And I'm telling you he was on an entire high the entire day. And all of that joy that came out of that day that could have been a really sad day for me.

And the love and everything that's like almost building on a day-to-day basis, it's really, this past week and I'm feeling really at peace. So it's really nice. That's amazing. I'm so happy that you had that moment. I'm just getting teary listening to. It's hard to let go of people. But then it's so beautiful when you get to appreciate the people around you and in the moments like that.

I do miss the nature in South Africa. So enjoy the waves for me as well while you're there. And on that I want to give a big thank you also to our partners, a quick little partner spotlight to RSS.com, who has helped us distribute this podcast into the world, and to Blender Bombs, Bomb Company with nutritious snacks. They've given our audience a beautiful discount if you use the code to fields, as well as BNE Sim, which is called Best Network Ever Sim,

and they are really great travel, well, just, you know, native home e-sim if you want to use, them. They've got really affordable data and you can have a global experience with them. So thank you also to their discount. If you want to learn more about that, reach out to us on the socials. And then I also want to do a quick little people, places and spaces, which as we always do as a segment and it's a person, organization or space or a being, that we feel have the feels. and so this week I am doing a little shout out to a very cute little space that I found. I've started doing singing classes, classical music singing classes for kids and babies here in Paris. It's been quite an interesting heart opening experience for me.

And so one of the spaces is called OTPi and it's a beautiful space with like lots of games and kids and space for the kids to play with the moms and have great coffee. and I just, yeah, what a beautiful energy that the owner gives. And so I just want to give a big shout out to them. We love your feels and thank you for providing beautiful spaces for kids to grow and learn. And then I just have one more question for you, Sally. And that is what is in your stack? So the stack is our reading list.

And maybe you have a book that you've been eyeing that's sitting there or a book that you've read that you'd love to recommend to our audience. Absolutely. So there's a book that's stuck with me for the past couple of years and I'm not normally someone that reread something. And I've read this book twice. I will read it a third time. It's called The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews. You know if you've read it. But it is a short book, which is helpful for me because I don't love these very, very long books. But it's a story that also brings into it a lot of life lessons. this book came to me. I hadn't researched anything. It was like one of those books I picked up at the airport when I was leaving, which is my favorite place to shop for books. What comes out of it is seven key lessons. I would highly recommend it for for anyone who likes to merge a little bit of like storytelling was something I can use as well on a day to day basis. And for me, it really resonated with me a lot at the time of my life that I first read it. And I take something new from it every single time. Amazing. That's a great recommendation. I'm definitely going to read that. Thank you. My stack is forever growing. I'm going to have to make some time for reading. But we'll add that to the stack and the stack books are on the website available to anyone if you are interested to see the other book recommendations.

And yeah, I just want to say a big thank you to you for all our listeners that are listening. I hope you had a wonderful time thinking about kind of what has surprised you in your self-care or where you would love to lean into the surprise of self-care and just listening to you, Sally, chat about your journey and it's brave, it's a really brave journey and I'm really grateful that it got you to where you are today that you can share with us. So thank you for doing that so openly. Thank you for having me. I was so surprised to be invited to join you guys and it's something that I definitely didn't want to miss the opportunity because these things, they come to you. And if it's one thing that I can say to everyone

may be in closing is like, when things come to you, accepts it with an open heart because even if it doesn't feel 100% right, it's there for a reason. So trusting your instincts and moving with it and like just grab the ball by the horns and, you know, you've got this and things always happen for a reason. And for me, that's a really big lesson that I think I'll keep with me forever. So thank you so much, Nicole, for having me and for the great work. you doing and just spreading joy and happiness and learnings with everyone it's it's really remarkable so congratulations to you as well thank you so much and a big shout out to gavin for putting us in touch as well and thank you and wishing you all happy feels out there have a

wonderful beautiful weekend thanks nicoe chow everyone if you haven't just yet follow friday feels on instagram facebook ticot and lincoln you can share with us all your feels this week by tagging us at friday fields.com and you can also find the website at that handle and now as you ease into this weekend take a moment celebrate who you've become what you've overcome and what is yet to come as you do the crazy and cool things that you do as the authentic you know the truth about life and work is that it's high but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are not together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week.

And of course, keep it raw and real. Until next time.