Empower Your Life Through Self-Care
There are so many different facets to our lives and sometimes, remembering what we need to do to make each of them flow smoothly feels like a full-time job. It’s a lot, and sometimes blogs like these can offer so many great ideas that it’s hard to immerse yourself in them without feeling that overwhelm acutely.
So, to best empower you today, we’re going to look at 3 areas of your life and I’ll share one easy-to-remember tip for you in each. No big lists, no big tasks. Simply soft guidance for an enriched self-care practice. Before we do that, we’ve got a couple of things to talk about to get you feeling as empowered as possible today.
Why does your self-care need to empower you?
While the need for empowerment in self-care is relative, there’s a truth to it that’s undeniable. Self-care that doesn’t support your health in some way or another is just an obligation in a party dress.
If you don’t feel stronger, safer, or more centered after a bubble bath, it’s not self-care. In the same manner, just because something isn’t enjoyable doesn't mean it’s not self-care. Taking your medication or brushing your hair can be self-care on hard days when they make you feel more capable of existing in the world.
Empowerment at the root of your self-care is more about the feeling it leaves you with than the act of care itself. Anything can be self-care if it’s bringing you to a place of strength—in self or otherwise.
The truth about strength
Strength is not brute or bravery. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the concept of strength as being able to move through something while retaining a sense of what matters to us. Strength is so much more than projecting an emotionless exterior or being bigger or tougher than someone else.
To be strong, you must be sensitive. There’s so much softness in strength and when you center your own empowerment in self-care practices, that becomes even clearer. Going to therapy is strong. Looking into yourself to find the most valuable version of yourself in the spaces you live in is strong.
This is the strength you’re looking for, and it’s exactly what personal empowerment will enable you to bring into your life.
What does empowering self-care look like in daily life?
In every aspect of your identity, there’s a different layer to consider in developing a self-care practice. Tending to each of those layers may feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to accomplish everything at once.
Paint your new approach to self-care with a broad brush. Focus on setting yourself up for success by strengthening your relationship with empowerment. Little actions in every area of your life can create a profound impact you’ll feel daily.
With yourself
Your relationship with yourself is at the core of every space you show up in this world. There is a reason airlines instruct you to put on your oxygen mask first on airplanes. If you cannot help yourself, you will deplete so rapidly that you won’t be available to help anyone else.
To give your internal awareness a little self-care, focus only on that refrain. Use it when the guilt pours in at a small indulgence or a petty thought. Your harmless softness or your fierce confidence. Let yourself feel these things wholly as a part of your strength. And any time you start to doubt it, let that airline command wash over you once more: Put your oxygen mask on first.
For your relationships
Every relationship in your life will benefit from you taking the space to empower your self-care. In therapy, you’ll be able to learn balance in energy exchange in your relationships. There is a balance to be found in how you engage in relationships, and you can begin to find it by doing self-care in your relationships through active listening.
Showing up in your relationships to listen to those you care about will help you to understand them and, in exchange, respond to them more effectively. This positive communication will increase your connection and likely deepen the bonds you share in those relationships.
In your sex life
Sex is one of the most empowering acts that no one talks about. The assumption that women don’t crave or enjoy sex is rife in purity culture but it’s just not true. No matter your gender or relationship status, self-care in your sex life begins with a question: what do I want right now?
Before any sexual encounter (or an experience that might lead to one), check in with yourself. What do you want right now? Doing regular check-ins with your desires, interest, and headspace can help you to obtain your own consent and gauge your fulfillment in your sex life.
Like people, self-care is complex and utterly unique for each of us. In every day and every way, you may find you need something different to meet these self-care needs you find as you begin to empower yourself with true care and consideration. These skills are something you can strengthen in therapy, so when you’re ready, Resilience Counseling will be here to balance your brilliance.
