What if our self-care routines aren't actually helping us?
I've really been questioning this lately in my own life and I feel as if self-care has become this really diluted term unfortunately and it's fueled by a consumeristic mentality that tells us if we have just this one more product or we do this one more routine,
Then we'll find wholeness.
And I just don't think that's true.
So then it begs the question,
What is self-care really?
Blessings,
My name is Brenda Cary and I'm a holistic healer for highly sensitive souls.
Allow this time to be a sanctuary for you,
To waken your sensitivity where you can soften,
Heal,
And reconnect to your own inner wisdom.
I am so grateful that you are here with me today.
This episode was spurred by a recent YouTube ad that I saw and it depicted this smiling and very happy woman carrying a laundry basket of neatly folded clothes coming out of her immaculately clean laundry room,
Definitely not like mine.
And on top of her folded clothes was a popular brand of laundry detergent.
There is a male voiceover that then says,
Make this laundry detergent a part of your self-care routine.
And I thought,
Wait,
What?
When did doing laundry become self-care,
Especially when I had to purchase this particular laundry detergent?
I kind of look at laundry as a household chore,
To be honest.
However,
If you genuinely love doing your laundry and you're folding it with presence and it brings you a sense of peace,
Then by all means,
I do think that really anything can be genuine self-care with presence and intention.
However,
This really made me start to think about deeper questions around self-care.
First of all,
When did it become so commercialized and sometimes really complicated?
Unfortunately,
Even the term self-care feels really diluted now.
And I find that really sad.
Some of the typical self-care products that we see,
Whether it's anything from skincare products to meditation apps to purchase,
To recently I purchased a tea mixture.
And I genuinely love the tea.
And it also has adaptogens and mushrooms and probiotics and prebiotics and all great things.
But then it really made me think,
Do I need all of that?
And that's true for many of the products that we are being advertised to.
And something just to consider when you are thinking of purchasing a product for self-care and no judgment by any means,
I've purchased many myself,
But really think about,
Is this something that I genuinely need or is it the feeling that I think I'm going to get after purchasing or using this product?
Now could be a great time,
I'm doing this myself,
To go through some of those self-care products that I genuinely thought I would use,
But are now just kind of collecting dust in the corner of a shelf somewhere and either donating them to a friend that may love them or just throwing them out.
Otherwise,
I feel like the products just make it more complicated rather than simple.
Also in current trends,
Self-care can look like a day at the spa or a massage or some type of outing that can relax and restore us.
And again,
Absolutely nothing wrong with these.
In fact,
I love getting massages to help me relax.
However,
If at the end of the spa day or whatever appointment,
If there's still a sense of lack or a sense of feeling hollow,
It could just be a band-aid,
Something that we do to keep busy,
But that's not actually really nourishing our soul.
So I'd like for you to consider what type of self-care routines could actually be soul care,
More led by our spiritual self or our higher self.
And it doesn't even necessarily need to be this rigid routine like every day or every month,
But more of a sacred rhythm,
Something that just feels more natural.
For example,
I used to have a pretty structured morning routine that consisted of yoga with sun salutations,
A guided meditation,
And then some type of journaling prompt and then would do writing from there.
Since entering into this very volatile time of perimenopause where sometimes my energy is up and sometimes it's not,
Soul care for me looks like honoring who I am and the energy that I have today.
It has changed and evolved as I have hopefully changed and evolved into more wisdom.
Look at your current soul care practices that you do.
Maybe it is yoga,
Maybe it is meditation,
And ask yourself,
Is this familiar what I'm used to doing?
Or in this particular season of life,
Does it really nourish you?
Does it really feed your soul?
And if not,
Now can be a great time to change it up just a little bit and know that we don't have to keep it quite so rigid.
For example,
I had a client that every week she was adding on more and more,
Albeit very good self-care practices and routines.
She would do yoga and then she would do meditation and then she found this product and then she used essential oils and then she added in oracle cards.
These are all great spiritual soul care practices,
But if it keeps adding on and adding on and then it starts to get maybe complicated and even overwhelming,
Maybe it's time to just really check in and ask yourself,
What do I really need in this moment?
What is really going to feel aligned with who I am now and who I would like to become?
And allow that sacred rhythm to reveal to you the practices that you need.
Because ultimately,
I think we can get really caught up in the doing of the self-care routine.
I'm in a space of,
Let's see if we can receive the medicine of the soul care practices that really resonate with us today.
And it might look a little different every day,
But know that it comes from this genuine place of you,
Your higher self.
So my encouragement to you is,
Which pseudo self-care practices or products can fall to the wayside and which soul care can you reintroduce or bring in that makes you feel alive and makes you feel like you?
And I would love to know.
Please share that in the comments.
If you have found this episode helpful,
Please subscribe to this channel and share it with other sensitive souls.
And as always,
Blessings on your healing journey.
