Valentine’s Day: Self-love

With a cup of Happiness tea in hand, today we are exploring the topic of self-love in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, which is all about showing love for someone else, well maybe we should be looking after ourselves first…

There is a growing interest in self-care, we are all hidden in our own “bubbles” more than we ever have been due to the global pandemic and we are wondering how many of us have actually spent time really delving underneath the surface of self-care; over and above a daily walk, regular meditation, a new shift in diet, improved exercise pattern etc.

What does self-love and self-care even mean? To start with, the number one relationship that determines the quality of all the other relationships in your life is your relationship with yourself. Effectively it’s like marrying the best version of you! It’s about changing what you can change, committing to growing within yourself and directing or re-directing the course of your personal journey. 

Self-care is all about being present and making conscious choices about what works for you. It’s about learning to put yourself at the top of your “to-do list” – it’s not rocket science but sometimes this can feel impossible to achieve with a busy job, family to consider, home to run, home school to schedule, meals to cook etc. 

The way to start this is by practicing self-compassion and scheduling in self-care, making time to look within yourself either on a daily or weekly basis. Loving yourself doesn’t mean you prioritize your personal needs over those of others, but it means that you don’t subordinate them. Including yourself in your circle of love and compassion, simply multiplies the love in your life. Keeping a diary or a journal is a good way to explore this self-love, if you find it hard to find the time, then schedule it in – arm yourself with a good cup of tea and do the self-worth work.

You can start this path to self-love by taking stock of where you are and rather than judging and criticizing yourself, accept everything you can about you – the good, the bad and the ugly! Be authentic to your inner child, what scares you, what truly makes you happy, what do you want more of in life and what do you have in abundance? Listen to yourself and look at what you really want, what do you want to create, what are your core values – list them in priority order and then look at what is around you that facilitates these values and then pay attention to what doesn’t. It’s an interesting process, getting to know your real authentic self and what direction you really want to go in. It can lead to a good clear out, removing yourself from things that drain you and also people around you that don’t serve this authenticity.

Then build it from here regularly – check in with yourself and your self-care goals, ultimately you have to do the work to direct yourself. If you struggle to do this alone (ironic as this is all about you) then there are loads of self-care and self-love books which can start the dialogue with yourself and get the self-love cogs turning, if you need more guidance then find a suitable self-love coach to guide you. 

Most of all you will need to create the time to invest in your personal journey – because at the end of the day this is your life – how it shapes up as you go along and what you make of it, is actually down to you. It won’t just happen by chance – you will need to direct it!

Happiness Tea includes citrus lemon verbena, the sweet spice of fennel and floral rose buds to create a well-balanced infusion. This lovely tea was born from the idea of creating caffeine-free infusions which expressed our values of health and well-being. We always believe that a way to achieve happiness and inner calmness is by seeking good health through nutrition and a balanced lifestyle.