Pouring Into Your Own Cup
A thought occurred to me one morning about pouring from my own cup and, more particularly, what I'm filling it with. There's always that looming adage, "you can't pour from an empty cup" but what exactly are we filling them with? It matters. What am I putting in that doesn't exactly fill me? What can I let go of to make space for myself? Pouring into your own cup means taking ownership of what we're putting and allowing in.
We steady ourselves for the race of daily life but miss or don't know how to provide space for us.
Whether it's a want or need shouldn't be the question but instead where/when can I make space for myself? How often have you talked yourself out of taking the time you were going to use to do something for you? Why oh why do we do that...
Or pushing it off, again?
I love that Self-Care Sunday has its own thing but we've still got to get through the week to make it there. And that's really the opposite of how we should be taking care of ourselves. I don't know about you but I'm not my best when I don't give myself enough space and can turn any mini hill into a mountain. It sets me off balance.
Providing Space for Us
Prioritizing wellness has become the bargaining option. "If I can get through the million things I have to do for everything else then I can focus on my personal needs and goals." We're really bargaining with ourselves for the much-needed time and attention we already owe. I hate that "self-care" has become such a cliche before it really had the chance to stand out to truly be shown for what it actually is.
It isn't a term I heard being used growing up as what falls in the vast realm of self-care was usually referred to as just something you habitually do. And on a rather unimaginative level. Like a chore instead of our personal manual for how we live life as the best version of ourselves.
When we feel an imbalance
in one or multiple areas of
our life it's going to be worth
the effort and energy to make
improvements 100% of the time.
Make it personal - this is about you, after all
Like if I'm going to be healthier then I'm going to aim to be the healthiest that I can be as a practice. Why not? Seemingly small habits build to the biggest impacts. And it's got to be more effort and commitment than just going through the motions of yearly wellness checks. All the appointments in the world don't mean a thing if our daily living habits are the reasons we have to go in the first place.
We need to practice extreme self-care. We need to put our healing (and health) first so the love we pour in can reflect the love we pour out. Be the ones filling our own cups so we can become what we need.
“start where you are. use what you have. do what you can”
When we feel an imbalance in one or multiple areas of our life it's going to be worth the effort and energy to make improvements 100% of the time. We can do this by cultivating mindful attention to our daily living practices and all the moments of our lives.
No matter how regular we consider them to be.
And as unromantic as that all sounds there's nothing sweeter than giving quality attention to your intentions. When we have moments that we don't want to focus on we should focus on how to move through and evolve from those.
🌙
As I've celebrated another trip around the Sun (this makes 39!), another year of watching my children growing up, a 15th year of being married to my best friend, and an 18th year just knowing him, I'm in awe of learning that I'm still learning and will continue to. It's such an experience not to be wasted. Waiting for another day or week to pass. The future is coming but the present is now. It matters how we exist in these moments.
Where are you starting from and what are your goals over the next couple of months? Let's chat in the comments or send me a message.
