It’s ‘Sunday self care funday’ for me today…

Keep reading below for the ingredients…

but what is self care, and what is self love? What’s the difference?

I am not the kind of person who believes that each word needs an absolute definition, we can all have our own opinion and meaning behind words, but what I do believe, is that we need to ask ourselves about the time we take for ‘me time’…
Whatever words we use to describe that ‘me time’, there is work we can do on ourselves both internally and externally, to help improve our mental and physical health.

Look at it like this….

• Self Love = Internal
• Self Care = External

so what is self love? How can one practice self love?

I spent the day having a ‘self love Saturday’ at a yoga retreat yesterday, at The Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, Hertfordshire. I worked on my fears, my hopes and my appreciations. Self love can be practiced in many ways, but the basis of self love, is internal work…
Until 2016, when I was 25 years young, I had never heard about the term ‘self love’…

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-5:

The above passage applies to our relationships with others, but do we apply this to the relationship we have with our own self?

So what is self care? How can one practice self care?

Self care is the external work we spend on ourselves, like the food we eat, the physical activity we do, our personal hygiene etc…

Ingredients;

I made up a face scrub from ground coffee beans and coconut oil and massaged into my face to remove dead skin cells. Coffee as we know, is full of caffeine which helps energise our skin.
After a steaming hot flannel to remove the waste, I applied fresh avocado and honey to calm and moisturise my skin. Honey contains antioxidants and antibacterial properties which is great for reducing pores and blackheads.

So Self love vs Self care, who wins?

Self Love & Self care should work hand in hand….Like adding milk to an English tea..

However, on social media, reality tv shows and the mainstream media, it would appear that many people practice self care, they get their hair done, present themselves in clean clothes, nails and make up done, but how many are actually practicing self love?

According to The Mental Health Foundation, every week, 1 in 6 adults experiences a common mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression and 1 in 5 adults has considered taking their own life at some point.

How can Self love help this?

What I found growing up, is I spent most of my time, working on my external image. To get the attention of others, to boost my confidence I even paid for plastic surgery, I bleached my teeth, I bleached my hair, I went on sunbeds, I applied false eyelashes, mask loads of make up and had plastic nails applied to my own, but didn’t wear very much…

What I now know, 8 years on from this photo below, is that, that smile wasn’t a genuine smile of contentment or happiness, that smile was how I wanted to feel inside, but was instead a cry for help, because my inside world wasn’t where it needed to be.
I sought the attention of others to feel good, I wanted to be in the limelight, the centre of attention..

I don’t bleach my hair anymore, because it grows too quick and it’s too expensive, I don’t use sunbeds anymore, because I know about the harm they can cause, I don’t bleach my teeth anymore because they are what they are, I don’t get my nails done, because i’d rather redirect the spend elsewhere, as for false eyelashes and makeup, I can’t be bothered. My personal hygiene is all I care about, the natural way of living is right up my street, less time consuming, especially in a time when we seem to have no time…

That being said, of course, there are times you will see me wearing makeup, getting my hair done and maybe a fancy outfit, but they’re not my priority anymore, now I have sussed my inside world, I realise how unnecessary focusing on the outside world really is..

Happy Self Love & Self Care Sunday <3

Namaste

Louise

Founder