Reena Vokoun explains why self-love matters more than self-care alone, and how to build it. Journal what you appreciate about yourself, set boundaries with family and work, pick activities that restore you, and remember you matter. Self-love isn't selfish, it's what lets you show up for others.
You know Valentine's Day is right around the corner, but the question is, how can you love someone else if you don't love yourself? Our health and wellness expert Reena Vokoun has more. This segment is sponsored by PassionFit. All right, Reena, well, traditionally in February everybody's talking about Valentine's Day and celebrating maybe your significant other, but you're flipping the script and we're talking about self-love this February.
I love it.
Why is that so important?
Yeah, I think it really is important because honestly, for us to love other people, we really need to start with ourselves, right? And 7 out of 10 people, um, according to research, know that they need to practice self-care, but really self-care needs to stem with self-love. Um, so one of the first things you can do is shift your mindset towards that of self-love. So no matter what's happened in the past, what might be happening in the future, it's important to really practice self-love going forward, right? We love our families unconditionally, our kids, our significant others or spouses, so why can't we do that for ourselves? Sometimes that can be really hard for people, but if you realize that it's not selfish to love yourself so that you can love others, you're more likely to practice that.
I know, and I think that's such a common misconception. If you care about yourself, you're afraid like, "Oh, am I being self-centered?" or "Am I being too confident?" So you have some really practical ways that we can all practice self-love. What are some of those?
Yeah, so first just understand what might be your deterrents to self-love, right? A lot of things in life have a cause and effect relationship. Relationships. So you could have specific perceptions of yourself or experiences or beliefs or whatever it is that makes it difficult to love yourself sometimes. And I think all of us have gone through that, right? Um, so understanding where that's coming from and just acknowledging it, not just shoving it under the rug, but really understanding, um, kind of the foundation of where it comes from. And then combating that with maybe making a list of the qualities that you truly do love about yourself. It doesn't have to be, again, something that's self-centered. It's just a, private journaling exercise where you could write about things about your personality that you like, or how you interact with others, or your, you know, core values, or other things that really make you uniquely you. And the more you can focus on that, the easier time you're gonna have consistently practicing that level of self-love.
Okay, what else can we do in addition to that?
Yeah, so once you've really worked through some of that internal stuff, and again, it could be a lifelong process, I'm not saying that it's easy and something you can achieve with one journaling session, but if you continue to work on those things, then you're more likely to practice self-care. And with self-care, some of that is communicating to people in your life that, "Hey, I need a break. I need to take some time for myself," whether that's talking to your family members or your team at work or your boss, but give yourself that time and energy and just remember that your needs matter just as much as everyone else's in your life. And once you are having that communication, then you're in a place where you can start to practice that self-care and that self-love.
I know, and it really is just like, I mean, when you're flying and the flight attendant says, "Put your mask on first before helping anyone else," and And we really can't care for others unless we're taking good care of ourselves.
Absolutely. So then there becomes the practical part, right? So what are the things— and I know this might sound a little cliché, like take a bubble bath or read a good book— but I think everybody has to figure out what things they need to really recharge themselves from the inside out and reset. And the more you, again, practice that form of self-love so that you prioritize your own self-care, you're more likely to do it. And as we were talking about in the past, including your family in your self-care practices is great as well because then you're demonstrating that self-love love and self-care. So whether it's doing yoga together or cooking a healthy meal together in the kitchen or finding some other activity that you deem as your self-care but you can bring your family into it, it's just gonna help everybody involved.
You always come with so many great tips. Is there anything else that we should do to prioritize our self-care?
Yeah, I think it's just honestly just remembering that again, you matter as well. I think we all sometimes forget that and life gets busy or we make mistakes or we beat ourselves up for things, but we're all human. We're all trying to do the best that we can, and the more we can love ourselves, the more we can love each other.
Through PassionFit, you teach people locally and virtually from a distance about the importance of physical care, but mental health and emotions are really important.
Absolutely. It's all interrelated. So exercising and eating healthy is one part of the equation, right? But really getting into our mental and emotional needs and behaviors and kind of getting into the psychological sides of ourselves is also part of health and well-being. So it's important to really look after all of it. Mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual.
All right, well, Reena, thank you so much for visiting, and we always love having you in studio.
Thank you for having me, Ashley.
This segment is sponsored by PassionFit. When we come back,
