Self-Love
Self-love
What is it? Sometimes I feel that it’s easier to understanding giving love than receiving it. But, what if we turned towards ourselves like we really mattered? Self-love is providing the nourishment inwards to sustain you so that you can become your future self. When we learn more about what we value we come closer to building the path towards consistent nourishment.
Relationships and connections to others can sometimes catalyze this process of self-awareness. Sometimes when we are challenged by another human we must look into the mirror. We must ask ourselves “is this really serving my purpose?”. Sometimes people come into our lives to teach us lessons about ourselves that we would not otherwise have learned. Sometimes people hurt us, deeply, and we need to recover from that too.
Right now, in my life I am finding that I am getting much more clear on what I want and how to get it. My business is still progressing and I am learning more about how to market myself, but it is a journey. Throughout this process becoming an entrepreneur is definitely not something taught in school. As a Social Worker, I learned all about how to cultivate relationships and build rapport, safety & trust as well as techniques to assist people in finding their own pathways to greater awareness, healing and resiliency. But, what about self-love? Where does that come in?
To me, self-love is about looking within, into the proverbial mirror if you will. Looking at all aspects of self, even the ones that you feel ashamed about or try to hide and saying “I love you just the way you are”. It takes time and I am not perfect at it by any means. I am a work in progress myself. But, I’m learning how to challenge myself day-by-day. Exercise has been a great way to push my limits recently. I am able to set “mini goals” and slowly but surely am seeing results. This has lead me to starting new routines too and thus branching out from there. Slowly but surely the ripple effect is occurring in my life and I am getting more consistent at practicing this change again.
I hope that you will find your path towards greater self-awareness and fulfillment. As the holiday season approaches, I hope that you can find meaning. Something greater than yourself to help you to feel fulfilled. Maybe that’s volunteering for a charity, or going to a place of spirituality. Perhaps, it’s going on a new date, getting a tattoo or joining a dating app for the first time. Whatever it is, I wish you the best during the holiday season.
If you are wanting a supportive person to assist you to cultivate greater self-love and fulfillment, feel free to contact me. We can discuss what that might look like to help you become your future self.
Sara de Souza, MSW, RSW (Individual & Couples Therapist)