Go Ahead And Love Yourself
The great band Beartooth has an awesome new album coming out entitled, The Surface. One of the songs on the album they have released already is “Might Love Myself” and is incredible. In a press release about the album, Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo said, “This album is the story of my beginnings in the new world I’ve created for myself. One focused on health, self love, positivity, understanding, hard work, and most of all second chances. At the end of the day, life is short for all of us. We can’t escape the end, so why not make friends with it and live in a world focused on living a personally fulfilling life.” In fact I just blogged about our need to prioritize our own needs, desires, and interests in Selfish Or Self-Centered. I believe C. S. Lewis would have greatly appreciated the lyrics of this song. I know I do!
In “Might Love Myself,” Caleb sings, “I’m exactly who I wanna be.” That is a great place to be. Loving ourself means having a deep appreciation and acceptance for who we are as an individual. It involves recognizing our worth, embracing our strengths and weaknesses, and treating ourselves with kindness and compassion. It also means prioritizing self-care – our own well-being. Loving ourselves involves us taking care of our physical, emotional, and mental health. Ultimately, to love myself means believing in my own values and my deserving of happiness and fulfillment. Do you love yourself?
Be Like Potatoes Not French Fries
This week, a breakout group who was developing a self-care club t-shirt (see featured picture) as part of a project for a professional development I was facilitating came up with an incredible theme: “Be Like Potatoes, Not French Fries.” This was an interesting metaphor and not something I had heard before. The thought was to do everything possible to be a whole person and not processed/fried pieces. The theme was really pretty genius and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and what it meant to be a like a potato. When I studied the shirt I found it was okay to sometimes just relax and be a couch potato. Sometimes it is okay to take part in a happy hour or spend time on the beach (hard for me on a daily basis, but I was facilitating in Florida).
The point was that we don’t have to spend every moment processing and transforming every moment like becoming a French fry. To be the whole person and stay like the potato we need to make sure and schedule time for what another group called “Self Care A La Carte. Check out their list of a la carte self care items on their t-shirt:
These were educators I was working with and one of the important things we discussed was the importance of focusing on self so we could effectively focus on others. As educators we provide support, how well we provide that support depends on how well we take care of ourselves. Here are some tips for having a good day:
- Get one important thing done
- Plan your perfect daily timetable
- Listen to a great music playlist (of course this should include some KISS songs)
- Go for a walk
- Leave your bad mood at home
How will you take care of yourself?
Byron's Babbles 
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