Tag Archive for: self love

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Self Love in Difficult Times

…and no, this is not Gabriel Garcia Marquez latest novel! 😝

I’m happy this topic was requested, because frankly I needed a reminder of it myself – bubble baths and face masks simply aren’t cutting it as sufficient self love anymore. Nor is making healthy food, moving my body and daily meditation and yoga (although those are GREAT, too!).

At this point of time, we need to go deeper into self love, so that we can re-join the world outside as our very best selves. But how on EARTH do we do that?

Self Love in Difficult Times – Hanna Boëthius – Type 1 Thursday

Well, here are some pointers:

🌟 You. Are. Enough.
Whether you’ve spent time reinventing yourself, or had a 7 week long Netflix marathon, you are enough. You’ve done enough, you’ve achieved enough. Your feelings are enough, and they are all OK to feel. Be honest about how you’re feeling, and do, for the love of all things holy, turn off the news blasts and take breaks from social media! Let go of perfectionism. 💖 Check in on your self talk. 💐 Don’t shut down in this crisis. 💪

🌟 Positivity is a choice
Your outlook on life is a mindset matter. Shift it and shift your view of your life and our world.

🌟 Get creative
Take time away from your screen and do something creative, challenge your mind to switch off and go with it. Whatever you want to do, you can. And should.

🌟 What can you learn from this?
Think about it. Every hardship has something to teach you. Exercise that growth mindset!

🌟 Make gratitude your attitude
Notice what’s good in your life and be thankful for it/them/that being there.

🌟 What CAN you control?
You’re not just stuck in some uncontrollable, parallel universe. You can still control your reaction, taking care of yourself and nourishing your body, for example.

🌟 How far have you come?
Imagine yourself two months ago – where are you now? What has changed? Make a list!

🌟 Reach out to your community for support.

🌟 Be kind to yourself. You are a priority.

🌟 Forgive yourself. And others. 🙏

Which one of these is your favourite way to show yourself some love? 💓

This graphic puts it all together for you nicely. Share it with someone you think needs to hear this message today:

Self Love in Difficult Times - Type 1 Thursday by Hanna Boëthius

Transcription

If you prefer to read the information in the video posted above about self love, here is a full text version:

Today, we will be talking about something as elusive actually as self love in a difficult time, like we are in now. And this is not a new novel by Gabriel Garcia MArquez, it’s not like “Love in the Time of Cholera” although sounds like it.

If you’re anything like me, you have grown a little bit tired of self love in the form of bubble baths and face masks right now. It’s not really cutting it in a self love-way anymore. And things like nourishing your body, moving your body… All of that stuff is great. It’s great to have there, but it’s not maybe all that we need? We might need to start digging a little bit deeper when it comes to self love right now. After all, we’ve been at this game for quite a while and none of us really knows how to keep going. So let’s dig a little deeper when it comes to self love!

This was a great reminder, I’m so happy that you guys voted for this topic because I really needed a reminder of this right no. I’ve been slipping on my own self love routine, so the research for this week’s episode was great for me to kick start some thought processes so that I can maybe get back on track. How do we sink a little bit deeper into self love? Well, it is actually a lot of it is a mindset shift. And if you know me, and if you followed me for a while, you know that I have a whole presentation on mindset shift, but this is specific to self love, which is not so much talked about in that presentation. So let’s go!

You. Are. Enough.

Point number one is really: You. Are. Enough. Let that sink in; You are enough. Whether you’ve been reinventing yourself in these past couple of weeks during lock downs and isolations or you’ve had a seven, eight week long Netflix marathon, it doesn’t matter, you’re still enough.

It doesn’t matter how you feel all feelings are okay, you’re still enough. And it is completely okay to feel whatever it is that you are feeling. We have to get to a point where we can see the world out of enoughness (I love that word, enoughness) That also means things like limiting your media consumption, for example, all these news flashes everywhere about spreading and this and that and politics and law and economics, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff! Turn that shit off! Check it maybe once a day if you’re really interested, but don’t have it flashing in your face the whole time. The same with social media, make sure that you take social media breaks, because otherwise you may go a little bit loopier than you have to during this time.

At the same time, be honest with how you are feeling, don’t sweep anything under the rug. It takes courage to face your own feelings, absolutely. But that is a part of self love, facing what you’re actually feeling. It also gives you a chance to show that authenticity that so many of us are willing to show. I think it’s probably very good for us to come a little bit more down to earth, a little more home to us, both in terms of self love, but also in terms of authenticity. So I really encourage you to feel what you’re feeling. If you want to talk about this with anyone, reach out to someone that you trust, that you love, that will hold your space for you. If you don’t really have anyone like that in your life, seek professional help because that is also very beneficial.

Let go of perfectionism

And other point is definitely let go of that darn perfectionism! Perfectionism is nothing apart from “what will people think?” Nothing has to be perfect. You show up as you (Hello! 👋) You show up authentically, courageously talk about your feelings, talk about what’s happening in your life right now. Perfectionism is just a fake shield against some kind of perceived criticism. It’s not worth your time or your effort to try to be perfect. Just be you. You are enough. Remember, you are enough!

Check in on your self talk. Are you talking to yourself like you’re an idiot? Or are you talking to yourself, like you’re talking to someone you love? That is where we have to get to. It is the ultimate ultimate showing of self love is to be able to talk to yourself in a positive and kind way. And I’m telling you, yes, it’s not some kind of easy fix. It’s not easy to do this. This is a daily routine that you have to get going with (or you don’t have to, but I invite you), to be kinder to yourself. It’s also important, I think, not to shut down in a crisis like this. Dare to feel these feelings, don’t bottle them up like I said before. If you’re anything like me, you know, they’re gonna explode somewhere else!

Positivity is a choice

Remember that positivity is a choice. Try to stay positive throughout this. Not just in terms of this, to sound like a cliche, not at all, but this is your entire outlook on life. And this is really a mindset shift from sort of, “oh, blah, blah, blah, why me I can’t do anything” to, you know, seeing the positive sides of life. This is called a growth mindset. Positivity is a choice, and it is also the greatest lesson you can learn for life. Try to see things a little bit more positively. If you can’t see the whole situation positively, try to see bits of it a little bit more positively.

Get creative, whether that’s painting, whether that’s journaling, whether that’s doodling, recording yourself singing (or actually just singing and then recording yourself singing), whether that’s making funny videos online. Or whether that is dancing to your favourite song – get creative. Get out of that, you know, very intentional, very thoughtful mindset. Let let go a little bit and I will promise you that you will feel better about yourself very soon.

You can also ask yourself what can I learn from this? Every crisis comes with a little bit of a lesson or learning or something that we can improve and I think there’s a whole lot of things we can improve in life right now, if we want to, or that life will improve for us a little bit later. This is also part of the growth mindset! This is where your mindset can grow so that you can interpret things in a different way. This, in turn, can lead you to create a purpose for yourself, if you haven’t find found your why yet. Your progress is still progress, even if it’s very, very slow. You can slow down as slow as you want, or you can speed up as fast as you want. It’s only your own race, you’re not competing against anyone. Don’t compare with anyone, just what can you learn from this crisis.

Gratitude is Self Love

I think something that it’s very important to acknowledge in these times is gratitude. And that goes together with the point of staying positive. as well as being enough. There are always, always, always things to be grateful for and to show gratitude for. That’s why I find it very, very important to, for example, meditate regularly. You can do that with apps, you can do that on YouTube, you can do that just in silence or with some soundscape. Meditation can really help you organise your gratitude a bit better.

Then another question to ask yourself is what can you control in the situation? It doesn’t matter if you can’t control the whole situation (because no one can no one knows what we’re handling, no one knows how this is gonna play out, and no one knows what’s happening next.) But what can you control in the situation? Perhaps it is your reactions? Perhaps it is to nourish your body properly? Perhaps it is to hydrate your body properly? Start from small things like that. They all add up so that you feel more in control of yourself and your own situation. How about today, you think about all the things you are, instead of what you are not. Think of all the beautiful, wonderful things that you are, stay positive, you are enough and what can you control and look after it.

Then, look how far you’ve come. Look at the person that got into this, well not chosen, but this forced mess about two months ago. Who was that person? Worried, perhaps stressed out, running between meetings, crazily stressing around everywhere? And now we’ve had the time to breathe and relax, and perhaps even make a few plans for the future? It depends. But ask yourself how far have you come just through these past few weeks?

Make sure that you build up your community, or a community at least, join a community. If you have the right people around you and surround yourself with the right people, you can also get the right support for you. That’s really important, I find, because we’re not alone in this. We’re all in the same boat, so to speak, and we can really help each other. So find a community that supports you.

And then almost the most important one, after you’re enough is; be kind to yourself. Make sure that you know that you are a priority. This connects connects the mind and the body to engage in something else instead of news flashes everywhere. And especially if you haven’t turned them off yet (which you really should)!

Make sure that you celebrate the smallest of things. And it’s not easy to find them sometimes, but if you really look, as I said, there’s always something to be thankful for. So celebrate the smallest of successes.

And then another super, super, super duper important one is forgiveness. Forgive both yourself for whatever perceived shit that you think you’ve caused, whether it is in this crisis, or in the past, or currently or whatever, forgive yourself and others. We’re all going through a really difficult time. This was the thing that made me realise that I needed to revisit self love on a deeper level. I realised that I have a lot of my past self to give a little bit more credit for than I have so far. So this is my version of self love right now; I give myself credit for past achievements and things that I’ve done before. I also found this quote that was fantastic:

“You got to learn to love yourself. It’s the realest love you can get.”

And how true is that? No one can love you as fiercely and as fantastically as you can, yourself. And if you keep on dwelling on and badgering yourself for past mistakes, it won’t help you grow at all it. It will diminish you and your personality. So make sure that you are able to give yourself some well deserved credit for stuff that you’ve achieved in the past!

If you want to get deeper into this, I have three books and one documentary and that I suggest that you check out. The first one is a book called “The Art of Extreme Self Care” by Cheryl Richardson, it’s fantastic. You can learn a little bit more about different ways of showing yourself self love, and setting boundaries and all these things that are so important for us.

The second one, and I really love this book. It is my favourite fictional book, it’s “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It is a fantastic little look into what magic is out there and it switches your brain off from “fact fact fact fact fact” to something else.

My third recommendation is actually a book by Marie Forleo, “Everything is Figureoutable” , because, well, it is. So also during difficult times, and self love during difficult times is also figureoutable. It’s not hopeless. I promise. You can definitely definitely do it.

And if you anyways are surfing Netflix these days, how about you check out “The Call to Courage” with Brené Brown. It’s fantastic and also goes along with these sort of notes that I’ve been giving you today.

What is your favourite tip of going a little bit deeper in terms of self love? Share with me below and I’ll be happy to chat with you there!

Disclaimer

The only purpose of this website and video is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This website and video is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. Instead, we encourage you to discuss your options with a health care provider who specializes in treating Type 1 Diabetes.

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Type 1 Thursday – Self love & Diabetes?

Diabetes & self love – why is it necessary? 🤔And why is it so crucial to find your way of showing yourself self love?

We’re going deeper than the ordinary advice when it comes to diabetes (“Medication, food & movement” 🙄) , this is more about the mental aspects of living with a chronic illness, such as diabetes. The mental aspect that no health care professional has ever talked to me about in my 34 year long experience with Type 1 Diabetes. But that is oh-so important and can make a world of difference to your management!

It’s time for Type 1 Thursday!

Self love & diabetes, is it necessary? – Hanna Boëthius

How do you show yourself some extra love when it’s needed? Let me know!

Transcription

Prefer to read this information about self love and diabetes? No problem, I’ve got a text version for you right here:

I cannot wait to discuss today’s topic, which is maybe a bit more on the “fluffy” side, rather than, you know, what health care tells you, which is, “medication and nutrition and movement – that’s all that matters in diabetes care”.

No, no, it’s not. As we’ve seen, during the past few couple weeks, I have gone through quite a lot of interesting topics (if I can say so myself!) with you guys, and this is yet another one! This is about diabetes and self love. Why is self love is so important when it comes to diabetes? I will first go through what self love is, because the idea of it is kind of fluffy on its own, I will go through how to show yourself a little bit more self love. It’s maybe not as difficult, or as easy, as you think it may be. And then I will also go through why it’s especially important in diabetes, to take good care of yourself in the form of self love.

What is self love?

So let’s get right to it, and start with what self love actually is? Self love is, to me, the same as self respect, self improvement, self compassion, that you feel compassionate towards yourself. It’s self acceptance, and remember acceptance – it will come up a couple of times in this piece, so bear that in mind. Self love is integral to your well being, because it just makes sense to make yourself feel better than you would feel otherwise. But it’s not just about feeling good, it’s also about making the right decisions for you as an individual, whether you are diabetic, whether you are not diabetic, whether you are struggling with a health issue, whether you are not, it doesn’t matter. It’s about making the right choices for you. And these can, of course, differ as I so often say in my videos, be very individual. So don’t just take model from someone else who’s doing something, and calling it self love. You have to figure out what works the best for you. And this also comes down to that you have clear values for you, and that you accept your weaknesses, as well as your strength (there was that word again!)

How can you show yourself self love?

So how can you show yourself a little bit more self love? Well, let’s get all cosy up in here, on this episode of Type 1 Thursday! For example, you can find your happy place. Where do you feel good, what is a good place for you to be in, whether mentally or physically, whether actually spatially. What would be a good place for you to be at? For me, it somehow often involves a beach and some sunshine… Make sure that you know what places work the best for you.

In order to raise yourself love game a little bit, do something you’re good at! It’s not even that out of this world, just do something you are good at, whether that’s knitting or writing a story or and maybe that’s growing a plant – it could be anything that you’re good at. (Maybe you should choose something that has more immediate results, maybe leave the plant thing for another time?) Do something that you’re good at, because that really raises your self love feelings.

Practice mindfulness. Whether that is in the form of a meditation practice or some other form, it really helps to put things into perspective, and makes you see the positive things a little bit more, well, positively.

Decide whether you’re going to act on what you need, or what you want. What you need is often more permanent, and what you want in that instant, can actually just be very, very temporary. Make sure that you always go and make choices for what you need, rather than for what you want in that moment, because that can lead you astray.

Make sure that your self care game is levelled up! That means eating the right nutrition for you, for example, it means moving your body, it means sleeping properly, making sure they have the right sleep hygiene, as they say so nicely, and make sure that you have social connections. Make sure that you are working with people that you enjoy being around, and that you have people around you that you can turn to. This is the whole point of the series that I’ve been making recently and Type 1 Thursda, it’s been a lot about self care and how to improve it.

When it comes to people, do set boundaries! Set boundaries for things and people. For example, if you notice that you’re not feeling uplifted after talking to person, or being with the person, or even thinking about a person, then maybe they are an energy thief and maybe they need to get out of your life for a while? It’s the same with things like workplaces, offices, make sure that you set boundaries. And even on social media, do set boundaries, about when you answer messages, so that you make sure that you are appreciating yourself and respecting yourself.

A real biggie is forgiving yourself. You know what? You’re not perfect, but you know what? It’s completely OK not to be perfect! No one is perfect. No one’s ever going to be perfect. No one’s gonna be that one perfect person. So let it go. And make sure that you understand that it is completely fine. Forgive yourself for not being perfect, because you never will be. Okay?

Live by design. This means your design, not my design, not that person’s or another one’s. Make sure that you know what you want from your life! This goes back to boundaries, it goes back to self respect, it goes back to self improvement, compassion, acceptance… What are the things that you want to achieve in your life? It’s not going to be the same as for me, and that’s fantastic! Go for it, as long as it is by your design.

When you start something like this, it can be really good to check in at in the beginning. Where are you now? Mentally, physically? Where are you in terms of self love? That’s how you know what you’ve got to be working with!

Self love & Diabetes?

Why is this particularly important for diabetes and living with diabetes? Well, we know we all know that we are more than people with diabetes. And and we also know that it’s a mentally frickin’ difficult illness to live with. It’s incredibly difficult to live with it, especially if you have no idea what your blood sugar is going to do next, for example. That’s really where the self love, self compassion and self acceptance comes in! The whole thing is that you have to take excellent care of you, because no one else will. You see your doctor seven minutes a couple of times a year? What are they going to do? Nothing. Who’s going to take care of you between those doctor’s visits? Yeah, that’s you. Don’t look to other people to take care of you, because you’re the only one who can actually do that.

When it comes to diabetes, no matter what the number, whether that is cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose levels or HbA1c – it doesn’t matter. You are enough! I have problems realising this myself sometimes, but you really are enough and you don’t have to do anything more than you’re already doing. You work your best and I know you’re working really hard, so please just show yourself one love and make sure that you know that you are enough!

You can also turn it around and look at the positive sides of diabetes. I know some of you out there right now, thinking “there’s nothing good with diabetes and it’s all shit”. It’s actually not! NEWSFLASH – it’s not all shit living with diabetes! it’s actually quite cool, because you get stronger than most other people, you have more courage, you are more resilient, you are more independent. You have all this amazing knowledge about health that not very many other people have, how cool is that? It’s actually a kind of a blessing in disguise to live with diabetes, if you think about it. It’s not just all negative and all shit, I promise, it’s it’s actually it has a lot of positive points as well.

The main point when it comes to self love and diabetes is acceptance. accepting yourself, accepting diabetes as a part of you, that is a huge topic in self love for diabetes. And it really just means that if you fight against the diabetes, you, first of all, know that it’s going to come back and bite you somewhere it hurts quite quickly. Secondly, you’re not going to get anywhere by fighting it! Your ultimate goal, my ultimate goal, everyone who lives with diabetes’ ultimate goal is to befriend diabetes. I know some of you are shaking your heads and probably closing your phones and laptops right now, but it is to befriend diabetes and work with it and not against it.

So now I want to hear from you, how do you show yourself some extra love when it’s needed? Let me know in a comment, and I’ll be so happy to talk with you there.

Ps. Want to learn more about this? Join me in Mallorca in November 2019 for The Low Carb Universe! I’ll be speaking on mindset and diabetes!

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