Affirmations for Self-Care

Here are my 10 favorite affirmations for self-care. The reason I created these is because many women, while recognizing that they need to take care of themselves better often have so many reasons that they don’t.

Without the belief that your self-care is important, your day-to day choices about your health become compromised.

So, affirmations can help rewire your brain into believing and eventually acting on your real desire to take better care of yourself.

If you love affirmations, I also have a post with 13 Affirmations for Personal Growth.

How Affirmations Help You Take Care of Your Body

We women are so hard on our bodies.

I want you to think about the ways you talk about yourself, your body, and how you look. Most women are pretty horrible about how they think about their bodies.

We have gotten the idea that our bodies are supposed to look a certain way, instead of just being our bodies. I believe in taking care of our bodies and I also believe in loving and appreciating our bodies unconditionally.

This morning, I looked down at my feet and my first thought was that they aren’t very pretty. I caught myself because in reality my feet are awesome.

I immediately thought about all the work my feet do. In a quick calculation I estimated that my feet have walked over 50,000 MILES over my life.

That is the equivalent of walking around the Earth, twice. My feet are amazing as it turns out.

So let’s get started with these important affirmations and beliefs.

10 Affirmations for Self-Care

My body is wise, strong, and worthy of care, not criticism

My body is wise, strong, and worthy of care, not criticism

Over these past years, I have become an advocate of taking care of your body no matter what your weight is or what you age is.

Thin bodies are not the only ones that should get loving care.

But often that is how we think, even if we don’t realize it. If eating in a healthy way doesn’t cause us to lose weight, we abandon it. Even if it’s good for us.

Instead of resting our bodies, we push them with more doing and work. We literally exhaust our bodies in the hope of never disappointing anyone else.

Instead, we disappoint ourselves daily by not loving our very own bodies.

I listen to my needs and honor them without apology

I listen to my needs and honor them without apology.

This is such a big one and makes a huge difference in my life. If you take away one thing from this post, it’s this.

You have needs and that is okay. It is okay to honor your own needs. What I see and hear about all the time is women who spend their entire lives tapping down their own needs and putting what others need ahead of their own.

If you like who you see in the mirror, you’re probably honoring your own needs. If you don’t recognize the woman in the mirror, you may have been neglecting your own needs.

The reason trying to diet often doesn’t work is because your weight is only a symptom. You can’t fix things by trying to treat one symptom.

Often extra weight is because you don’t honor your own needs. Those needs include rest, fun, love, connection, more rest, relaxing activities, and things that bring you joy.

These are needs my friends!

The more I trust myself, the more grounded I feel

The more I trust myself, the more grounded I feel.

Do you trust yourself? Is it easy to make decisions? Or do you ask others for their opinions and try to get a consensus?

We have not been taught to trust ourselves. For most of your life you’ve been taught to do what you are told.

However, you have an inner spirit, an authentic self. Often women don’t even want to acknowledge what they want or what they know is right for them.

It’s scary to be responsible for your own self. To decide and act upon what is right for you.

Look, it doesn’t have to be that scary and you won’t blow up your life. It’s okay to trust yourself. You’re going to make so-called mistakes anyway, so you might as well do what you know is best for you.

I have the right to take up space, speak up, and shine

I have the right to take up space, speak up, and shine.

We often think taking up space and shining is for younger women. I used to believe that until I became an older woman.

But I believe that is so backwards. We have lived, loved, been broken, put ourselves back together, and are still standing.

This is YOUR time to take up space, speak up, and shine!

I am allowed to rest, to play, and to feel deeply

I am allowed to rest, to play, and to feel deeply.

This is your permission slip. You really are allowed to rest as much as you need, to play and have fun, and most of all to really feel.

Of those, the feeling one probably sounds the most unclear. What I mean by that is while women are considered emotional, my belief is women are actually masters of controlling their own emotions.

I teach women to feel and not be afraid to feel. Being able to feel actually allows your life energy to flow in your body and helps you think with more clarity.

I make food choices that support my health and happiness

I make food choices that support my health and happiness.

When I meet women, very few eat in a way that supports their health and happiness. They eat in a way they think will help them lose weight.

They eat in a way that helps them cope with life by binging or overeating.

They eat in ways that are socially acceptable even if it isn’t what they would eat.

This might seem like a weird thing to say, but you are allowed to eat, to eat food you like, and eat enough that you feel satisfied.

I don’t believe that we should be overeating all the time or eating around the clock, but in general food should be enjoyable as opposed to something to be apprehensive about.

How do you find balance in food, in a way that it supports both your health and happiness?

You concentrate on your primary nutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat. In real food words, along with your choice of protein, eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, and healthy fats and oils.

Eat enough of these building blocks at your meals and avoid snacking.

Enjoy yourself and what you eat at all times, but especially. when you go out for dinner or on vacation.

I believe many women of our age are dealing with different situations that make it difficult to lose weight.

But you can always feel better by making choices that support your health and happiness.

Your body, mind, and spirit need nourishing food. You are allowed to eat full meals that fill you up and make you feel good.

Your food choices can make you feel better and it’s so worth the time to discover what works for you.

My joy is a priority, not a reward I have to earn

My joy is a priority, not a reward I have to earn.

When do you feel joy? I encourage you to find it wherever you can, even, and maybe especially in the little things of life.

For me, it could be a perfect cup of coffee in the morning. Or sitting on the balcony during a gentle rain. I find joy in my garden, on trails, and in nature.

My greatest joy is time with my grandchildren or my grown children.

Joy is seeing my family play games together or engaged in spirited conversation.

I feel joy when I am in the middle of a workout and my body is stronger.

You don’t have to earn joy; you just need to look for it, acknowledge it, and feel it as often as possible.

I don’t need permission to reinvent any part of my life

I don’t need permission to reinvent any part of my life.

As someone who reinvented herself, I did not ask for permission. One time, my oldest daughter was with me in my closet.

She was looking at my skirts and she asked, “Mom is that a leather skirt?” I said, “It’s probably fake leather.”

As I’ve written on the blog, I didn’t wear dresses, shorts, or bathing suits for about 20 years because I felt so ashamed of my body.

When I lost some weight at 53, I embraced short dresses and shorts. I grew my hair out, got a new certification, and started my business.

I reinvented it all and it turned out; I was really just becoming who I really was. I felt like me for the first time.

I can hold boundaries with grace and clarity

I can hold boundaries with grace and clarity.

Boundaries can be such a heavy word. In some cases you need to have actual boundaries but more often, what you need is to keep you word with yourself.

Here are some common scenarios that women will tell me about, as if they can’t do anything about these things.

• Food that is brought to work to share, such as donuts, pizza, and other treats
• Someone in the family worked hard and made something homemade. Of course you can’t say no.
• Your partner wants to eat at a certain time and eat certain kinds of foods.
• You are so busy with work, you don’t have time to eat.
• You are so busy, you don’t have time to plan meals, shop, prep, cook, and eat.

You get the picture? You want to take care of yourself and eat better, but so many situations and people are getting in the way.

Deep down, most of us don’t believe our personal and health goals are not important. Well, they are important until it comes to perhaps disappointing someone else.

Look, I don’t want you to wait until you are sick to start taking care of yourself. That time is now.

Every time you put what someone else wants or offers ahead of your own health, you are letting yourself down.

Every day, I choose to live instead of just getting by

Every day, I choose to live instead of just getting by.

What does living mean to you?

To me, it means having a home that relaxes me. It means doing some fun things. It means connecting lovingly with others. It means moving my body and feeling strong and balanced.

Living means having time to do what is important to me.

Living means feeling energized and optimistic.

Living doesn’t mean everything is perfect and that there are no challenges. Facing those IS living too.

You can see “living” in people’s faces. People who are living look alive, interested, curious, animated.

A lot of times when I am out and about, see people going through the motions.

How do you live?

I believe it begins with noticing and appreciating what is already in your life. You really don’t even have to change anything.

• But notice, really notice your surroundings. See beauty and acknowledge it. Be thankful for as much as possible.
• Say yes to things that feel a little uncomfortable
• Do new things
• Rediscover and make time for old hobbies that you used to love

Affirmations for Self-Care

These affirmations are designed to help you create new beliefs about yourself and what is possible.

Let’s face it, our experience of life is based often on how good we feel physically. Taking care of your self  is essential to living and feeling well.

But to take care of yourself physically, you have to be willing to put yourself first at times and prioritize the decisions you’ve made for your health and well-being.

This may not feel comfortable at first, but it is well worth doing.

How to Use Affirmations

Pick your favorites and write them out and place them where you can see them. Tuck them into drawers you open daily. Put one on the fridge. Stick one on your desk.

Bookmark this post and come back to it whenever you need a dose of inspiration.

Pick one a week and really focus on it until it feels like your new normal.

Use them as journal prompts and reflect on how they resonate with you.

Or after you finish reading, call it good and know you’ve planted a seed that will bloom.