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I’m oh so excited to be writing this post as a part of the Declaraion of You’s Blog Lovin’ Tour! The Declaration of You is a brand new book from the wonderful duo of Michelle Ward and Jessica Swift!
The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! I’m thrilled to be participating this in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more – and join us! – by clicking here.”
Each week of the tour bloggers are sharing their thoughts on one of the themes of the chapters in the book and this week the theme is ‘Self-Care’.
So I thought I’d share what my personal declaration of self-care is:
- To find moments to choose self-compassion.
- To be attentive to my energy output and to honour when the introvert in me needs to recharge solo.
- To get out to nature as much as possible and enjoy it (and am lucky to live in a place where I can seek it at the waters edge or in the forest, whichever one I am most in need of).
- To look at myself with kindness, both in the mirror and through the camera
- To notice what energizes me and what drains me and give myself chances to let go of that which isn’t helping me thrive.
- Photo walks (my fave self-care tool). Even just a walk around the block with my camera can radically change my day.
- To invite in spontaneous self-care. To buy myself flowers or to take an unexpected stop to just sit in a patch of sun.
- I have room to adapt and change my self-care tools as need be. Its not about meeting a ‘self-care schedule’ but about really listening to what I need
- To be resilient. To start again as often as I need to and to honour the ebb and flow of self-love and self-care.
To me self-care isn’t just the acts we do, but also the ways that we treat ourselves (which really is probably no surprise since this site is called Be Your Own Beloved)! I think the biggest piece about self-care I like to remember is that last piece. That self-care isn’t just something that we do once and everything is awesome. It is the filling up of our own energetic well and by doing so it makes us more equipt to help or serve others in our lives.
I sometimes mention the depression I went through years back. I think that was the time I learned the most about self-care. I truly felt like I had nothing left to give outwardly and my well was totally dry. So I had to relearn self-care. For me that meant slowing down and really listening to what I needed. At that time it was quiet and solitude. Once that well was filled up I started to seek self-care outwardly which was going on adventures, soaking up simple moments and savouring them which led to me falling in love with capturing these moments through the camera.
The declaration of me in general came out of that stage in my life when I finally listened.
Kept quiet until the voice in me felt ready to speak.
Then slowly began listening to that intuition each day about what I needed to keep that well filled.
What is your declaration of self-care?
There is also a Facebook Party to celebrate the Declaration of You today at 12:30 EST and I hope to see you there!
You can also get your copy of The Declaration of You from the books website (even a signed copy) or from your local bookstore! I truly can’t wait to get this one in my hands and savour every page of it!
You can also check out other posts on the Blog Lovin’ Tour here! I especially loved this post from the awesome Rachel Cole and Seek Your Course as part of the tour!