Thoughts of a Blog Queen: Did you water yourself today?

How to prioritize your self care.

As I grow in my own journey I realize more and more the importance of self care and how it directly impacts every area of our lives.

From our families and businesses and careers to our friendships and relationships. The goals and dreams we have and how we show up for other people. Self care is honestly probably one of the single most important things we can prioritize in our lives and this is because without nurturing ourselves first, how could we possibly be successful at nurturing and fostering the growth elsewhere?

I hope that you can see this as well. See how important it is for you to be intentional in your self care journey and treat it as though you would a very valuable and delicate plant that you are developing.

Think about it, when we accept the responsibility of being a “plant mom” we essentially begin putting our time, energy and focus into making sure that this living thing thrives in it’s growth.

We water it, we position it very specifically, we make sure that we are creating the exact environment that this plant needs to grow.

We research this plant’s origin and how to take care of it. We provide it with a stable planter big enough so that it has room to flourish and we sometimes even name it. We learn that talking to our plants is actually beneficial and that they even somehow thrive in certain environments with soothing music or singing.

Such a phenomenal creation right? So how are we any different? For as much focus as we put into making sure that other people and things are taken care of we need to assure that we give ourselves that same energy and more.

Your self care should never have to be anything that you sacrifice for another area of your life. This means anything that you are involved with. No matter what your role is you have to be willing to understand that the best intentions towards your self care means the best version of you.

That old saying that “you can’t pour from an empty cup” is very true but it can also be misleading because let’s not ever be confused that we don’t ever want to just implement self care into our lives just so we can be better equipped to help and show up for other people. No that is just one layer of the benefits but being active in your self care journey is strictly for you.

It’s for your own mind, body and soul. It’s to make sure that each day you wake up you are showing gratitude to yourself and you are taking care of the one and only temple (that is your body) that you will ever get in this lifetime.

Through my own healing and self discovery journey I’ve had time to reflect on how much I abandoned myself and my own needs to assure that I was present and available in my connection to others and I somehow made that my life’s focus. I lost a piece of myself when I decided that loving another person was more important than how I loved myself and it damaged (but didn’t destroy) the very core of who I am as a woman.

But it damaged me in a way that I can see now that I lacked the self care I needed in order to thrive properly. I was seemingly in that “planter” but I didn’t give myself enough room and light to grow.

So I had to remove myself, reposition, and create a greater and bigger living environment for myself.

If I could offer you anything from reading this entry I would give you the following 3 tips or ideas on how to make sure you are prioritizing your self care:

Listen to yourself.

Listen to your body. When you feel like you need something lean into that feeling. When you need rest, get some rest. Don’t always sacrifice your sleep. When you have pain don’t always just let it subside. Focus on it and give yourself the proper care. When you’re feeling mentally drained, give yourself that time to recalibrate, even if it is so much as taking a 15 minute break away from whatever you’re doing, give yourself that break in that moment. Listen to what your mind and body are telling you, you need.

Gather your essentials.

If you’re a woman reading this, you need things. You need essentials. You need things in your life and in your daily routine to care for yourself and you should always incorporate those needs into whatever your budget is. Your vitamins and supplements, your balanced diet, your feminine care, your physical fitness and health, your emotional essentials which could be in the form of therapy or self help books, or even journaling time. Oh and don’t forget your simple “luxuries”. You know, those little things that may not necessarily be needs but they are definitely well deserved wants. Make sure you make those attainable as well.

Remove yourself from dark spaces.

This one is important because often this is the very area that we tend to have difficulty in. When I say remove yourself from dark spaces I want you to think of that plant again. There are not very many plants if any that can survive without getting the proper amount of light they are being exposed to. If you seclude your plants day in and day out in spaces that are not giving them enough light what will happen? It will slowly deteriorate and it certainly will not grow. You are the same way. When you recognize that an environment you are in is dark, you must make the necessary changes in order to come out of that situation. That may look like removing attachments to certain people and things. It may look like changing your number or even your entire living environment and relocating. You may need to change jobs or career paths if the stress becomes too intense. You may need to limit your social media intake and what you’re actively exposing your mind to, especially for us as empaths.

And those are to just name a few…

There’s so many things that we can do assure we are making self care a priority and truly this entry could go on and on in all the ways and ideas that I could give you but as long as you have first developed a self awareness to identify when and how you need to apply your self care on a day to day basis, everything will eventually fall into place if you stay consistent and intentional in your journey.

Providing yourself with that extra time each day to love on yourself a little more and giving yourself a little more grace in your life will truly go a long way.

Your “roots and stems” will be stronger than ever and your “color” will be glowing and radiant.

Here’s to all the intentional self care that we need to grow and thrive. May it never be wavered on.

Until next time my lovelies,

Peace and Blessings

–Blog Queen