Self-Care ‘Sweet Spot’ | Kalamazoo Boudoir Photographer
As a Kalamazoo boudoir photographer I promote self-love, self-care, and confidence. Boudoir photography goes beyond taking gorgeous images, it’s also about empowering women. My job is to make women not only feel beautiful in that moment and in their photos, but to truly feel beautiful within themselves. Keep reading to find out how to find your self-care ‘sweet spot’ and begin your journey to self-love and self-care.
Following Trends
Self-care is trending! Grab your bath bombs, face masks, and nail polish… right? Well, sort of, but not really. Following trends can be a great thing, or a not so great thing. The self-care trend is a great one to follow, but, self-care isn’t just a fad or a trend. Self-care is a real practice that has positive effects on your mental and physical health. Warm baths and good books can be great tools on your self-care journey, don’t get me wrong, but to use self-care in the most effective way you must do some of the hard work, too.
The Hard Work
The hard work of self-care includes making sure you’re using the RIGHT tools for YOU. To truly improve your health and overall well-being you must discover what it is YOU need on your self-care journey. Everyone’s journey is going to look different, as everyone has different needs and is at a different point in their own life. The first thing that is important to understand, according to Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, is that self-care isn’t another “should do” thing or another task that you HAVE to get right. Self-care is learning how to fill your own cup, which can look different from one person to the next. By exploring different self-care practices and tools you can discover what best serves you in the self-care world.
Balance Your Energy
Balancing your energy and filling your own cup starts with small changes. One great place to start is your sleep routine. Many people sacrifice their sleep to gain back time to get things done. Sleep is so important for your mental and physical health, however, and should take some priority in your life. Taking care of yourself includes making sure you get ample rest. Don’t allow the extra rest to make you feel guilty or lazy and remind yourself that you’re restoring your body and mind. Others focus on their diet or exercise routine when starting their self-care journey. Exercise can be a great way to get your energy back and adding exercise to your routine promotes learning and growth which is still important as we get older. Bonus points if you’re able to go outside to move around! Nature can work miracles on the mental health.
It starts with building your own awareness — with compassion, not judgment — of how you are now versus being at your best.” Compassion is the key here. It’s so important to give yourself grace and love to ultimately treat yourself the way you’d treat your own best friend. Find your goal and start working towards it without all of the unproductive self criticism.
Start With Self-Love
Starting small can help you avoid becoming overwhelmed on your self-care journey. Self-love is a great place to start and can help make the rest of your journey not only easier, but more enjoyable. Give yourself one day to focus on self-love practices. This could include a motivational book, a nap, a warm bath, or self-love affirmations. Over time, this will become a habit.
Loving yourself allows you to love others fully. It allows you to immerse yourself in the moment rather than letting your mind wander to unproductive, judgmental thoughts about yourself. When you love yourself better, you love others better and you live a life with higher quality.
If you’re ready to start your journey towards self-love, follow my instagram here for more of my boudoir work and inspirational content. If you think a boudoir session might be the perfect start to your journey toward self-love, contact me here!
xoxo
Brea
Self-Care ‘Sweet Spot’ | Kalamazoo Boudoir Photographer
