Introduction
Why in the world would anybody want to go on a self-journey whether it’s spiritual journey or otherwise. Society tells us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to distract ourselves from doing so. I mean let’s look at the truth behind normal day-to-day living right now. We spend hundreds of dollars on a cell phone, a Netflix account, a computer, multiple other streaming services, social media and just about any hobby that we can find in order to get out of our own heads. I’m here and I am creating this course to teach you how to get into it. Even most of the self-care nowadays that’s marketed to people is asking you to get out of your head for a while. Escape what’s inside your mind. Doesn’t that seem counterproductive?
I have a very unconventional view from society’s perspective on what self-care actually means. First, let’s talk about what it’s not. It is not a massage, it is not a manicure or pedicure, it is not a day at the hair stylist or the barber and it’s not a new outfit that you’ve been looking at, but you haven’t been able to pull the trigger on. Now I’m the first one to tell you that all of these things are nice, they feel good, and I would encourage you to do good things for yourself or even reward yourself. However, when we’re dealing with who you are as a person these things are only temporary and they are only things that will do nothing for you long-term other than putting a band-aid over something or creating a habit which leads you into a perpetual cycle of spending more, doing more and ignoring more.Ā
Let’s look at a creative example to drive this point home: Let’s pretend your best friend called you up and insisted that they were having a very traumatic experience or a really bad time dealing with something. I think the last thing that you would do would be to send them an Amazon gift card! I think your first response would be to show up. Be it at their house, work, or wherever they may be. I want you to stop just for a second and I want you to ask yourself in your mind, “when is the last time you showed up for yourself”? “When is the last time that you’ve created a safe space around yourself so that you feel comfortable being honest with what you feel and what you think?” Maybe it’s been too long or not at all.
You see, for me, self-love and self-care are interchangeable. The idea of taking care of myself is an act of love, just as the idea of me taking care of somebody else is also an act of love. Throughout this course I will be flip-flopping back and forth between self-care and self-love based on the context of what I’m talking about but just so you know I will mean the same. Which leaves really only the subtle difference between the two as one is an action and the other is a result.