ABOUT
You understand the websites (WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com) are not claiming Graeme Seabrook is an agent, publicist, accountant, financial planner, lawyer, therapist, or any other licensed or registered professional. You may not rely on any information on this site as individual advice.
WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com is not directive advice, counseling, or therapy. The services provided by Graeme Seabrook, et al may address overall goals, specific projects, or general conditions in a client's life or profession. Coaching services may include setting priorities, establishing goals, identifying resources, brainstorming, creating action plans, strategizing, asking clarifying questions, and providing models, examples, and in-the-moment skills training.
None of the presenters/writers/contributors act as a therapist providing psychoanalysis, psychological counseling, or behavioral therapy. User understands WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com will not prescribe or assess micro and macronutrient levels; provide health care, medical or nutrition therapy services; or diagnose, treat or cure any disease, condition or other physical or mental ailment of the human body. User understands if they should experience any such issues they should see their registered physician or other practitioner as determined by their own judgment.
If the User is under the care of a health care professional or currently uses prescription medications, User should discuss any dietary changes or potential dietary supplements use with their doctor, and should not discontinue any prescription medications without first consulting their doctor. User understands the information on WholeHumanMama.com and GraemeSeabrook.com is NOT medical or nursing advice and is not meant to take the place of seeing licensed health professionals.
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This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, process, and distribute your information, including Personal Data (as defined below) used to access this Website. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. The use of information collected through our Sites shall be limited to the purposes under this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service to customers.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy on the Website at any time without notice. In the event of a material change, we will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website.
Use of any personal information or contribution that you provide to us, or which is collected by us on or through our Website or its content is governed by this Privacy Policy. By using our Website or its content, you consent to this Privacy Policy, whether or not you have read it.
Information We May Collect
We collect personal information from you so that we can provide you with a positive experience when utilizing our Website or content. We will only collect the minimum amount of information necessary for us to fulfill our obligation to you. We may collect:
Please note that the information above (“Personal Data”) that you are giving to us is voluntarily, and by providing this information to us, you are giving consent for us to use, collect, and process this Personal Data. You are welcome to opt-out or request for us to delete your Personal Data at any point by contacting us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com
If you choose not to provide us with certain Personal Data, you may not be able to participate in certain aspects of our Website or content.
Other Information We May Collect:
Anonymous Data Collection and Use
To maintain Website quality, we may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer the Website by identifying which areas of the Website are most heavily used, and to display content according to your preferences. Your IP address is the number assigned to computers connected to the Internet. This is essentially “traffic data” which cannot personally identify you but is helpful to us for marketing purposes and for improving our services. Traffic data collection does not follow a user’s activities on any other websites in any way. Anonymous traffic data may also be shared with business partners and advertisers on an aggregate basis.
Use of “Cookies”
We may use the standard “cookies” feature of major web browsers. We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies, nor do we employ any data-capture mechanisms on our Website other than cookies. You may choose to disable cookies through your own web browser’s settings. However, disabling this function may diminish your experience on our Website and some features may not work as intended.
What We Do With Information We Collect
Contact You
We may contact you with information that you provide to us based on these lawful grounds for processing:
Process Payments
We will use the Personal Data you give to us in order to process your payment for the purchase of goods or services under a contract. We only use third party payment processors that take the utmost care in securing data and comply with the GDPR.
Targeted Social Media Advertisements
We may use the data you provide to us to run social media advertisements and / or create look-alike audiences for advertisements.
Share with Third Parties
We may share your information with trusted third parties such as our newsletter provider in order to contact you via email, our merchant accounts to process payments, and Google / social media accounts in order to run advertisements and our affiliates.
Viewing by Others
Note that whenever you voluntarily make your Personal Data available for viewing by others online through this Website or its content, it may be seen, collected and used by others, and therefore, we cannot be responsible for any unauthorized or improper use of the information that you voluntarily share (i.e., sharing a comment on a blog post, posting in a Facebook group that we manage, sharing details on a group coaching call, etc.).
Submission, Storage, Sharing and Transferring of Personal Data
Personal Data that you provide to us is stored internally or through a data management system. Your Personal Data will only be accessed by those who help to obtain, manage, or store that information, or who have a legitimate need to know such Personal Data (i.e., our hosting provider, newsletter provider, payment processors, or team members).
It is important to note that we may transfer data internationally. For users in the European Union, please be aware that we transfer Personal Data outside of the European Union. By using our Website and providing us with your Personal Data, you consent to these transfers in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Data Retention
We retain your Personal Data for the minimum amount of time necessary to provide you with the information and / or services that you requested from us. We may include certain Personal Data for longer periods of time if necessary for legal, contractual, and accounting obligations.
Confidentiality
We aim to keep the Personal Data that you share with us confidential. Please note that we may disclose such information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that: (1) such action is necessary to protect and defend our rights or property or those of our users or licensees, (2) to act as immediately necessary in order to protect the personal safety or rights of our users or the public, or (3) to investigate or respond to any real or perceived violation of this Privacy Policy or of our Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions, or any other terms of use or agreement with us.
Passwords
To use certain features of the Website or its content, you may need a username and password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password, and you are responsible for all activities, whether by you or by others, that occur under your username or password and within your account. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your username, password, or account information. If you share your username or password with others, they may be able to obtain access to your Personal Data at your own risk.
You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized or improper use of your username or password or any other breach of security. To help protect against unauthorized or improper use, make sure that you log out at the end of each session requiring your username and password.
We will use our best efforts to keep your username and password(s) private and will not otherwise share your password(s) without your consent, except as necessary when the law requires it or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary, particularly when disclosure is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to others or interfering with our rights or property.
How You Can Access, Update, or Delete Your Personal Data
You have the right to:
You may unsubscribe from our emails or updates at any time through the unsubscribe link at the footer of all email communications. If you have questions or are experiencing problems unsubscribing, please contact us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com
Security
We take commercially reasonable steps to protect the Personal Data you provide to us from misuse, disclosure, or unauthorized access. We only share your Personal Data with trusted third parties who use the same level of care in processing your Personal Data. That being said, we cannot guarantee that your Personal Data will always be secure due to technology or security breaches. Should there be a data breach of which we are aware, we will inform you immediately.
Anti-Spam Policy
We have a no spam policy and provide you with the ability to opt-out of our communications by selecting the unsubscribe link at the footer of all emails. We have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by never sending out misleading information. We will not sell, rent, or share your email address.
Third Party Websites
We may link to other websites on our Website. We have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of any other individual, company, or entity whose website or materials may be linked to our Website or its content, and thus we cannot be held liable for the privacy of the information on their website or that you voluntarily share with their website. Please review their privacy policies for guidelines as to how they respectively store, use, and protect the privacy of your Personal Data.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance
We do not collect any information from anyone under 18 years of age in compliance with COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the EU). Our Website and its content is directed to individuals who are at least 18 years old or older.
Notification of Changes
We may use your Personal Data, such as your contact information, to inform you of changes to the Website or its content, or, if requested, to send you additional information about us. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, or otherwise alter our Website, its content, and this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon posting our updated Privacy Policy. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of any of information obtained through or on the Website or its content following the posting of changes and/or modifications constituted acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. Should there be a material change to our Privacy Policy, we will contact you via email or by a prominent note on our Website.
Data Controller and Processors
We are the data controllers as we are collecting and using your Personal Data. We use trusted third parties as our data processors for technical and organizational purposes, including for payments and email marketing. We use reasonable efforts to make sure our data processors are GDPR-compliant.If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at graeme@graemeseabrook.com
Last Updated: January 2025
This was originally published on my old blog between 2012 and 2020. I
I firmly believe that self-care can save your life. I've been called a self-care guru, a self-care coach, and I call myself a self-care evangelist. So how did I stray so far from the path that I almost lost myself completely?
After my first child was born, I fought the demons of postpartum depression and anxiety. With the help of therapy, medication, and peer support I won that battle. As a mother living with PTSD from a traumatic birth, I turned to self-care for mental health maintenance. I read, I learned, I found mentors, and created a plan that worked for me.
Then I got pregnant again.
Suddenly everything was focused on getting sick again. It became a personal mission not to. I was so focused on what would happen after my daughter was born, that I started neglecting the things that were already keeping me healthy.
Yes, it started that long ago. It just took me until now to admit it.
This website has been a dream of mine for a while now, and soon I will be launching my pregnancy and postpartum coaching business. It's been a painful juggling act: two children, a relationship, a 'real job', blogging, building a new brand from the ground up.
Guess who got lost in that equation? It didn't happen all at once. Self-care, like so many other things in our lives, is a series of choices that turns into a habit. I stopped choosing me. Slowly, but surely I began to choose everyone else over myself and I began to fade away.
Fading may be too passive a word. It hurt. The rage started creeping back. My temper got shorter, fatigue became a constant companion, and it seemed like every choice I made was between two evils. There was very little in my life that I actually WANTED in my life. Instead it had become full of 'must' and 'should', guilt and running — running — running. I thought if I could save one more mom, help one more woman, be a shoulder for one more friend, fight one more battle — surely the clouds would part and I would stop feeling like this.
That is not the way this works.
This summer has been the hardest of my life. Unequivocally the worst summer in my 26 *cough 37 cough* years. Beyond simply being awake and a Black mother at the same time I have been attacked online and in person. I do not feel safe in my hometown, my state, or my country.
This is, I know, a right of passage for a Black woman. Welcome to the club. They call us strong so that they can justify everything they do to us. I'm not naive.
Self-care works when it is a regular practice. It works best when you take time every day for yourself, when you place yourself at the center of your life unflinchingly and claim your space. I know that. I preach that. But there's a reason that doctors make the worst patients and the preacher's kids are always wild.
A few weeks ago, I spoke with my therapist about how I felt like I was hanging on to my life by my fingertips. I was running on empty, but constantly having to find more to give. As a mother, as a business owner, as a daughter, as a friend... I kept telling Dork Dad, "I have nothing left, I'm just so tired", but then I would go run my support group or hop online to try to comfort a friend.
This is not sustainable.
Every time I walked by the front door of my house, I wanted to run away. Every time I got into the car, I wanted to just keep driving. After a family vacation that left me more exhausted at the end than I had been at the beginning, I had reached my breaking point.
Sobbing in my therapist's office, I told her that I knew that something had to change. Something radical had to be done. That was the first step, the first thing I had done truly and only for me. It was how I found myself on the road back to self-care.
I'm typing this at a coffee shop on my way home. I've been gone for a week. I drove about three hours away and stayed in a hotel room. I brought sewing, my comics, my coloring books, and my Nook with me. I brought my bathing suit and enough cash to take myself to the movies one day.
Then I slept. For a week.
I sewed for a few minutes, and colored a bit. I did read the comics, but mostly I slept and watched Netflix. I didn't watch the news. I didn't work on my business. I didn't call to get updates on the kids. I didn't get sucked into fights on Facebook.
I got out of bed only to make food, take baths or look out of the window every once in a while. My mind emptied and I let it. At first it felt unnatural and uncomfortable. What kind of mother abandons her children that way? What kind of Black woman gets broken by racist assholes? How much more of a wimp could I possibly be?
The less I did, the better I felt. I went through about a gallon of water a day and started sleeping better, feeling better when I woke.
I sang all the way home. Car dancing, rock star impersonating, taking up space, and ROCKING OUT singing. People who passed me on the highway smiled.
As I sang, some things became clear to me.
I am filled with purpose and energy right now. I have plans and a clarity that has been missing for so long. My words are back. I am back. And this time I'm not going anywhere.
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