Self-care is something not many people think about — even though they need it more than they know.

Self-care emphasizes taking care of yourself so that you can serve others as influentially as possible.

In this act, you are giving to and appreciating yourself.

Many high school students and even adults struggle with things like stress and insecurities.

When you take care of yourself, you are creating a better environment for positive thoughts to arise and love to spread.

Junior Abby Bellmer believes that self-care is important because you put yourself first.

“I would define self-care as anything that involves taking the time or making the effort to do things you know are gong to make you happy and better yourself,” Bellmer said.

Ms. Alyssa Kuzins is the founder of “Self-Care Spotlight,” a podcast that interviews inspirational women on how they take care of themselves and helping others do so as well.

“If you are not taking care of yourself, you are just simply not showing up to your life the way you should be,” Kuzins said.

Her podcast focuses on positivity and appreciation of oneself, as well as on ways to achieve it.

“Your body is a sacred vessel, and no one will take care of it for you,” Kuzins said.

“Self-care Spotlight” highlights a variety of topics such as yoga, meditation, business, motivation, inspiration, and health.

Kuzins’ personal journey with self-care started in yoga.

Once she found it, she felt a major shift in her life.

“It felt like the ground broke underneath me, and I no longer had solid ground,” Kuzins said.

She describes this feeling as self-care stepping forward.

From here she became dedicated to self-care as she became a yoga teacher, founder of The Journal Deck, , and “Self-Care Spotlight.”

Senior Morgan Murphy thinks that the podcast is beyond motivating and refreshing.

“It gives you so much intel on all perspectives of self-care, how us women have different forms of self-care, and the same emotions and gratitude and demeanor on self-care,” Murphy said. “It is a great reminder on how to take care of yourself or how to feel about how good you are being to yourself.”

“Self-Care Spotlight” was never originally meant to be a podcast that stuck around. It was only made for promotion of The Journal Deck, which is a deck of cards with journal prompts on them that focus around self-care.

Once Kuzins saw the impact that her podcast was making, she decided to continue making episodes.

Kuzins explains that she had never done anything like a podcast, but when she started she had a natural gift.

“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade,” Kuzins said.

She hopes with her podcast she can help women and men see themselves in a different way.

Her biggest inspiration for her podcast and her work has been a company of two women called Rock Your Bliss.

She admires how they do business and who they are as women.

She also recommends the authors Danielle LaPorte and Rebecca Campell for those digging deeper into self-care.

Overall, “Self-Care Spotlight” is a great podcast for anyone who needs a bit of motivation in learning to love themselves.

Kuzins’ message to new listeners is to start with an episode that pulls at your heart, as there is something that everyone can take away from listening.

“The podcast will meet you where you are in your journey,” Kuzins said.

In the future, she will be expanding on her business as well as creating podcasts.