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Unknown Foliage Photo by Betty Budd — National Geographic Your Shot

Source: Unknown Foliage Photo by Betty Budd — National Geographic Your Shot

Mama Duck with her Darling Ducklings Photo by Betty Budd — National Geographic Your Shot

Source: Mama Duck with her Darling Ducklings Photo by Betty Budd — National Geographic Your Shot

How do I love thee…. let me count the ways

We love others but do we genuinely love ourselves? We are taught to Love our parents and loved ones and we are taught to be loved but do we really love ourselves?
We spend many hours, weeks, days, months, and years taking care of others, taking care of our job, taking care of our bank account, taking care of our house and many more things are on this list; but we spend so little time loving ourselves. You can’t really love another human being the way they need to be loved if you’re not loving yourself first.
There are so many ways to love yourself.
You can look at your beauty rather than your flaws and focus on that and not be so hard on yourself , you can feed yourself good nutrition, you can sleep well, you can exercise… there are so many things that you can do to take care of your physical body so that you are healthy and around for those people that you love and who love you.
You can love yourself by allowing yourself to make mistakes and learn and grow by those mistakes.
You can love yourself by paying attention to your spiritual health, being Mindful and present in each moment
You can love yourself by eliminating the toxicity from your life, from your mind. And that includes people in your social circle who you know are not good for you.
You can love yourself by setting boundaries and not allowing people to treat you badly or take advantage of you.
You can love yourself by being passionate about the things that you love and embracing those things.
You can love yourself by creating balance in your life and not giving so much of yourself to one thing or one person that it leaves little of yourself left.
On this Valentine’s Day love yourself first. Don’t be sucked in by the commercialism of this day and creating unrealistic expectations. If you have a husband / wife, boyfriend / girlfriend, partner let them see your true value, let them see how you love yourself and they will in turn love you as well.
Keeping things simple can sometimes be the best way of showing love. How stressful is it when you have to worry so much about what is going to happen on Valentine’s Day, standing in a line at a restaurant, spending extraordinary money on flowers etc. Or expecting someone to do that for you.
Wouldn’t it be better to have a simple day with the person you love, maybe having a nice quiet dinner together, watching a movie, going for a walk; or maybe this is not at all what you want; maybe you do want extravagance and you deserve extravagance! These are all individual choices so what I’m trying to say is don’t complicate things and put more stress on yourself. Enjoy the day and every day and most of all love yourself.
I spent today loving myself. Getting a massage nourishing my body with good nutrition, going to the gym and will spend the evening with my daughter who I love very much having a nice dinner, playing games and watching a movie.
Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Someone once said to me; “Why don’t you just age gracefully”
I am still not sure what that person meant or even what the term “growing old gracefully” means? Perhaps I should have asked.
My definition of growing old gracefully is taking care of myself and being the best version of my current self!
I try to do the right things; stay out of the sun, I don’t smoke, get plenty of sleep, exercise, eat right and the list goes on!
Sure I have a couple of Botox injections a year and have had Thermage® http://www.thermage.com/ done 3 times in 10 years, but I haven’t had any plastic surgery done or anything extreme; I’m just trying to maintain my youthfulness.
Part of my looking younger is really genetics, the rest is all up to me. I believe what I am doing is exactly that; I am growing old gracefully! Who says we have to just get into the proverbial rocking chair at a certain age and start wasting away or start neglecting ourselves and not caring about our appearance! Of course we should!!

Shame on you if you are one of “them”

I get compliments all of the time about how great I look for my age (I am still 29 haha) and of course that makes me feel great. But there is no magic pill for youthfulness!
Aside from genetics it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance, you can’t just throw some lotion on your face and call it a day, it really is a combination of many things that you do that will keep you young.

I will be writing a book about anti-aging not sure how long it will take me but it is in the works so look for it in the next year or two.
Until then, stay young and don’t let anyone tell you any different!
Oh by the way, the person that told me I should just age gracefully; that was my daughter. I believe once she is my age she will have a different perspective. I love her and all of my children more than words can convey!

Look for my next topic on age discrimination.

Betty J Budd

http://facesofedmonton.com/post/143075044340/i-just-think-with-my-story-i-am-alive-to-tell-it

Youth and Self-Injury | Canadian Mental Health Association.

I am Jay, a YESS Champion.

Wow, did you hear about this….

https://medium.com/architecting-a-life/fee8f3ee97a0

NewINSIGHT Life Coaching.