Quotes About Self-care

If we were to abuse our children, Social Services would show up at our doors. If we were to abuse our pets, the Humane Society would come to take us away. But there is no Creativity Patrol or Soul Police to intervene if we insist on starving our own souls.

I believe that a healthy sharing of oneself is a holy call, but so is caring for ourselves and taking time for the beautiful mysteries God created within us. The important thing is balance. Being a martyr distorts the virtuous ideal of giving to others by crossing over into victim postures and a self-denial that squelches selfhood and the creative life of the soul.

I understand he has abandoned you, but must you abandon yourself?

The main thing is to stop struggling and nourish yourself. When you nourish yourself, your creative energy is renewed. You are able to pick up your lyre again and sing.

You can only drive yourself crazy if you have no distance from the world

Changing what you eat isn't going to help unless you start managing your stress level

Training your mind to be in the present moment is the #1 key to making healthier choices.

When all else fails, take a bath.

Most people need a way to calm down almost daily. That's why food is such an overly used self-soothing mechanism. You are seldom more than fifty feet away from some form of food at any moment, whether it's a vending machine or a fast-food restaurant.

You are accepting painful feelings as a part of your life, perhaps even rationalizing them as being good for you. It's time to stop.

I take a stand for what I believe in. I don't let fear run my life. I confront people who have injured me. I define who I am rather then being defined by other people. I keep the promises I make to myself. I protect my physical and emotional health. I don't betray other people. I tell the truth.

Most adult children of toxic parents grow up feeling tremendous confusion about what love means and how it's supposed to feel. Their parents did extremely unloving things to them in the name of love. They came to understand love as something chaotic, dramatic, confusing, and often painful—something they had to give up their own dreams and desires for. Obviously, that's not what love is all about.

This letter begins the process of "reparenting" yourself. Reparenting means to dig deep within yourself to find a loving, validating parent for the hurting child you still carry inside. This is the parent who, through this letter, comforts, reassures, and protects that part of you that is still vulnerable and frightened.

This is emotional surgery, and as with any surgery, the wounds must be cleaned out before they heal, and it takes time for the pain to go away. But the pain is a sign that the healing process has started.

You are not responsible for what was done to you as a defenseless child.

When you ignore your needs for the sake of your mother's feelings, you are doing a disservice not only to yourself but to your mother, as well. The anger and resentment that you will inevitably feel cannot help but affect your relationship. And if your efforts to make your mother happy fail, you will feel guilty and inadequate.

I had to make myself presentable. Doggedly I dosed myself with Alka-Seltzer.

In the future if my mother tries to shame me with her disapproval, I will let her know in no uncertain terms that I reject her and all of her codependent baggage. I am Codependent No More.

I'm putting on my own oxygen mask," she whispered, doing her best not to give in to the need to throw up. "I'm saving myself. I'm allowed to do that. It's going to be okay.

Darrelyn had told her to simply observe her children. To listen without judgment. That was her homework for this week. To take her medication, to count to ten before allowing herself to wash her hands and to listen.

she was counting the brushstrokes when she brushed her teeth — on the rare days that she did brush her teeth.

During the post-breakdown period, she read books the way an addict swallowed pills. She devoured stories one after the other, trying not to let reality intrude too deeply.

Grace was trying to make peace with the fact that it was not her job to absorb every single bump and bruise for her loved ones. Surviving something terrible was a personal journey, and doing the work on one's own was the surest path to healing.

the main character saying things like "In my world, chocolate is a vegetable.