Self-Care is not all or nothing
I pride myself on sharing exclusive content with my email list. It’s the very best of my work, and it’s always something that you can only read if you’re a subscriber to my list. (Are you subscribed? Get in on the goodness here!)
But today, I needed you (all of you) to know this. So I’m pulling back the curtain and sharing this pep talk as far and wide as possible. Maybe you need this today. Maybe it will inspire you to join the awesome people who are getting these pep talks every week. Either way, I love you.
Dear beloved & brilliant,
I believe in busting self-care myths. Not for my own ego or so that I get to be right. But because I think that under the myth that isn’t serving us is a way to healing. I hear people say that it’s the culture that’s at fault and that no amount of self-care will “work”.
File this under “things that break my heart.”
Because it is the culture of overwork and of “never enough” and of systemic inequality that’s making us feel sick and exhausted and “not enough.” But also because I believe in the restorative, redemptive power of self-care.
I can hold both of those beliefs at once. Because self-care is not all or nothing. Just because I can’t do it all, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing a little. It doesn’t mean that you’re not worth respect and tender care, even if it can only be in small doses sometimes.
Just because you can’t do it all, doesn’t mean you should give up.
You don’t need a 3-hour massage or a 2-week vacation or a lot of money to have a small taste of your own capacity for healing.
This is why I fell in love with meditative breathing practices what (feels like) a million years ago. Because with every breath, I am empowered. Through these practices, little by little, I began to experience respectful attention of my own experience.
Over time, I could listen to – and believe my inner voice, my beloved intuition.
What a gift. What a direct witnessing of myself as a precious being!
Yes, there is still a deep culture of overwork. But there is time for one full breath. (Maybe now.) There may even be three minutes where you can sneak off to practice in the bathroom stall (I’ve been there!).
And if it doesn’t happen today, that’s alright. You get to try again tomorrow.
Why? Because this is not all or nothing. Yes, we must shift the culture of overwork. For our own survival, that needs to happen. But in the meantime, I invite you to offer yourself some gesture of compassion, of gentleness, of care.
Maybe in this moment, we can feel own own brilliance – and have the courage to change what we need to.
