Day 2 Self-Care Is Self-Love
A fresh look at the Great Commandment
If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard Christian leaders laud the importance of neighborly love. There are entire books about how we should love our neighbor, even about how we can identify who our neighbor is. Rarely, though, have I heard anyone point out that Jesus assumes that we love ourselves. That’s a far cry from the idea that loving ourself is selfish or sinful. How did you decide to show yourself some love today? Did you struggle with this practice in any way?
the nerve of Jesus…assuming i love myself!!! i pushed hard against this Xtian ask of me because, how am i to love anybody, when i didn’t have love for my ‘self’? how could i extend to someone else, that which i couldn’t extend to my ‘self’? having lived a full life of embodying others’ definitions of me (Audre Lorde), and not knowing who i was, created a life of being “eaten alive” by placing others before my ‘self’. years of reckoning & reconciling love of my ‘self’ - through therapy - i’ve learned how to love ME…always, and in all ways…”regardless” (Alice Walker). today i showed myself some love by creating time this morning to brew a perfect cup of pour-over coffee☕️; a spiritual practice that slows down my mornings in order to set my intentions for the day🤲🏾✨.
Although I normally don’t struggle as much with self-love as I used to (Thanks be to God), today I’m finding it more challenging. My husband had a serious injury and surgery a few days ago, so tending to the emergency and caregiving, transporting 2.5 hours one-way for follow-up appointments, monitoring for signs of infection now are (rightly) taking up a lot more time. And now I’m also fitting in my busy job in the caregiving field because I don’t have very much time off, with being in a new job. AND yet in the midst of all of this hard stuff, I NEED to ensure self-care and self-love. For today, my act of self-love is taking back some yummy homemade guacamole to work after my lunch break. I will make sure I take a true BREAK this afternoon and savor the snack while listening to some music.