Cultivating ‘Self’

This week, I am delighted to be a guest writer for my very good friend, Leanne from Cresting the Hill. Leanne and I have been blogging for over 5 years now and it is so lovely to be able to build friendships in the virtual blogging world.

When Leanne asked me to be her guest and to base it around her WOTY – CULTIVATE, I immediately thought of Cultivating a healthy lifestyle. You probably would have thought that is what I would concentrate on, because that is what I’m known for – living a healthy lifestyle.

However, on reflection I decided to write about my WOTY which is ‘SELF’ and why it is important to cultivate SELF not just living a healthy lifestyle, physically, but also mentally and spiritually. The whole package!

Leanne’s WOTY (Word of the Year) is ‘Cultivate’ and I was inspired to merge this word with my own WOTY – ‘Self’.

WHAT IS SELF?

Firstly, SELF does not mean selfish. SELF is what defines us as a person, our individuality, our uniqueness. SELF is YOU!

WHY WE NEED TO CULTIVATE SELF

We’ve all heard about self-care, self-love and nurturing and that is an important aspect of SELF. Like flowers we need to tend to our SELF, fertilise, water and care in order to Bloom. However, it is so much more than that. We need to cultivate SELF to live the life that is right for us, on our terms and to feel comfortable and confident with who we are as a person. It is about becoming self aware of our needs and desires and making the commitment to incorporate them into our life.

Too often we allow ourselves to live our life by other people’s rules and standards. Many women, I’ve discussed this with agree and find that when midlife arrives and we experience the empty nest, change of careers or retirement we are feeling confused and dissatisfied with our life.

For years we have been giving to others, spending our energy in areas that deplete us and just accepting our ‘lot in life’.

‘You can’t pour from an empty cup’ is a well used quote but it is true.

I recently wrote a post, Where are you placing your energy? based on a discussion I had recently had with a friend. The question made me reflect on who, what and where I’m placing my energy and asking myself: ‘Is this energising me or depleting me?’. It is a great exercise to find clarity.

You can read the post in full and discover 6 ways you can Cultivate ‘Self’ HERE and I would invite you to pop over Cresting the Hill and say hello to Leanne whilst you are there. I’d also love to hear how you are Cultivating ‘Self’.