Selfie Care

The current world situation is so hard, for many reasons! One of which is the prolonged isolation, from everything. From the things that make me feel human like going to the gym or work. From things that help me “let my hair down” like going dancing or going out with a friend. From things that make me feel relaxed like going anywhere without a mask on. From things that warm my soul and refill my empty cup like a big hug from a friend.

To try to keep things “normal” I have continued my “self care” daily routine. I enjoy putting my makeup on, taming my hair and getting dressed… of course my getting dressed hasn’t changed much since I have lived in yoga pants for a while. Even still I’ve been battling low self esteem lately, the combination of this isolation and just having had my second baby has changed my body. Sometimes a simple phrase of “I don’t have the mental capacity to hate my body” can help improve my feelings and stop the downward spiral that is low self esteem. Although that isn’t always enough.

Something else I try is that every time I am in a picture with my babies I try to remind myself that it’s not about me. After all, beauty is fleeting. It’s about the memories and about how when I’m gone the biggest thing I want them to remember is the love and fun they had not if mama looked her best. They don’t care what I looked like, they care that I loved them. But even reminding myself of that I still struggle. Lately many of the pictures I’m in I could tell you more flaws than beauty but today as I was making a video for a friend I realized I wanted to try something new. Today is a good day… no scratch that… today I feel gorgeous. I want to embrace this feeling, bottle it up and save it for a rainy day.

Usually I feel ashamed that I love my great selfies or that I even took one. Instead I’m going to start celebrating those days and reminding myself I am beautiful. The same amount of power I have given to the bad days I want to give to the good days instead. on the days I’m really struggling I’ll look at these selfies and remember that just like life we have ups and downs. I’ll try to remember that just because I’m having a bad day it doesn’t mean all my days are bad and hopefully I can remind myself that ultimately it’s not all about the outward appearance, it’s about what memories you make.