“What to say” Series:
Last week I wrote a blog post on 20 easy 5-minute self-care ideas for parents. Today, I continue the conversation in the guest post, “15 Statements to Convince Yourself to Self-Care: A love letter to all Parents” on The Productive Parent website. I provide 15 statements and quotes that parents can say to themselves when our guilt, shame or other unpleasant emotions get in the way of taking care for ourselves. I practice saying those statements to myself on a daily basis when I notice feeling overwhelmed and just not feeling well as I attempt to juggle all my roles.
Many parents are notorious for putting their needs last, and these 15 statements help to remind us of focusing on our well-being for our children and to model self-care for them too.
Since I don’t want to mislead you, I’ll continue the list and add 16 – 30 self-care quotes here.
16. You can’t collect water from an empty well.
17. Self-care allows me to reduce my stress little by little.
18. Self-care will help me calm down.
19. I make the wisest decisions when I’m calm.
20. A car stops running when it’s out of gas.
21. If I don’t take care of myself now, I run the risk of becoming sick later.
22. My children need to see me being good to myself.
23. Self-care = self-compassion.
24. I deserve care and compassion, just like my children do.
25. If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. – Jack Kornfield
26. Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths. – Etty Hillesum
27. “If I am not good to myself, how can I expect others to be good to me?” – Maya Angelou
28. “Setting boundaries is a way of caring for myself. It doesn’t make me mean, selfish, or uncaring because I don’t do things your way. I care about me too.” ― Christine Morgan
29. “When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.”– Jean Shinoda Bolen
30. “If you want to do your best for future generations of humanity, for your friends and family, you must begin by taking good care of yourself.”― Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche
I’m curious to know, what are your favorite self-care quotes? I’d love to make a list of 100 self-care statements for everyone to reference.
