Self-Care vs. Self-Love
Living in worry or fear can start to seem so normal we don’t even notice it.
It infuses everything we do, especially how we care for ourselves and our family.
Did I make the right choice for breakfast? Is that dairy going to cause eczema?
Did my baby eat enough? Did my toddler? Why am I so hungry? What’s that funny bump? Is it a bug bite or a symptom of a terrible disease?
Was that last meal organic? Oh maybe I shouldn’t have bought the cheap bread, or maybe we should really be cutting out gluten all together?
Even which shampoo to buy becomes a cause for concern. I really like my salon shampoo but that’s toxic right?
I guess I’ll for the natural kind. Greasy hair shouldn’t bother me. That’s just vain.
I mean it’s exhausting. How much easier is life when you can just rock the drive through from time to time.
Or have a hotdog and actually enjoy it, without some internal battle (not to mention the battle with your kids about eating ANYTHING.
It’s just so hard! There is so much out there that seems out to get us. And even more so our kids! There is always something new to avoid or look out for or try to prevent.
But what can you do right? Try your best and educate yourself and learn your body type and add on to that list a whole other list of things to avoid?
That’s what self-care is right?
Actually perhaps yes, if you consider the top definitions of care according to Merriam-Webster.
They include ‘a suffering or mind’, a ‘cause for anxiety’ and a ‘painstaking or watchful attention’.
That is why what I really teach and practice would more accurately be called self-love.
And it is so much sweeter. So much softer. And feels so much better.
When you practice self-love NO energy needs to go into avoiding anything.
I invite you to get curious with yourself and consider how much time you spend navigating away from the ‘unhealthy’ choices.
How much of your energy goes to cataloging all of the potential consequences of the worst case scenario?
In contrast, how much time do you actively spend loving yourself in tangible ways?
Share what you notice in the comments below.
The first step to actively caring for yourself in a real, loving way is to decide that you get to.
Decide you get to take care of you, too.
You are so so so worthy of heaping love onto yourself. Filling your own bucket. Filling it to overflowing. Filling your bucket with love like your life depends on it.
Because it does.
And because the overflow is so delicious. And it effortlessly nourishes everyone around you.
That love is the calm, loving, connected powerful mama energy that creates worlds.
If you feel yourself longing to know the felt sense of that kinda love, I am so ready to help you create the deep calm that it lives in. Because I don't believe anybody creates those conditions without guidance, support and reflection.
If you are curious if my support might be right for you, reach out to me and book a free call with me.
xoxo Stephanie
