Self-love is a priority!

Hey, how are you doing today, like for real?

As you know, love and self-empowerment are core values for La Pimbêche. We really want our designs to inspire you and help you feel good and stronger every day. We also want you to feel understood, accepted and most importantly, empowered.

As you know, February is the month of looove! Yayyy! Valentine’s day is still very much associated with love in the sense of the couples nowadays, but we find it super important to deconstruct this way of thinking and to associate it rather with love in all forms, including self-love. Because in the end, whether you're in a relationship or not, love always starts in your own heart. As our fabulous RuPaul says so well: "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?" We can never say it enough, but the love we have for ourselves should ALWAYS be our priority! Yasss Queen! Can I get an Amen on that?

 For the artist-founder of La Pimbêche, being an entrepreneur and an artist is a dream career, yes, but it also brings its share of challenges, ups and downs, uncertainties, and even sometimes misplaced ego... When you think about it, the validation of her artwork does not only depend on her, but especially on her clients and the industry, which requires her to constantly work on herself and her self-confidence. 

 To help you practice more self-love in your life, we asked Patricia, the artist-founder of La Pimbêche, to explain the practices she uses to stay grounded and also how not to let harder times (which are inevitable, but so important to evolve!) get in the way. Let's get started!

Patricia, can you tell us a little about your personal self-love practice on a daily basis?

I would like to tell you that taking the time to nourish my creativity is one of the most important aspects of my personal self-love practice.

Every morning when I wake up, I start my day with positive affirmations that I repeat several times out loud. It may sound weird to talk to yourself, but I promise you, it is much more powerful to say them out loud than just in your head! In fact, one practice that inspires me a lot is Mirror Work.  You can find a lot of information about this on the internet, but I'll summarize the steps for you, which are pretty simple:

1. Take a mirror or sit in front of a mirror.
2. Hold your gaze (look into your eyes!).
3. Say positive affirmationsout loud to yourself. You can also just talk to yourself, have a conversation with yourself or give yourself compliments. YES, it's really hard and uncomfortable at first, but I promise you, it's worth it! Your self-confidence will thank you one day!

I also do mediation for at least 10-15 minutes to clear my mind and start my day in a more relaxed and focused state of mind. I have even noticed that it allows me to be much more productive afterwards! It is now known that meditation brings a lot of benefits to those who practice it, so I will not try to convince you here. But I want to tell you that it is a practice that is different for everyone and there are no ‘’good’’ or ‘’bad’’ ways to meditate, only practice will make it better! If it scares you at first, my best advice is to lower your goals. Start with 2 minutes a day and gradually increase. I promise you that you can do it! Start today and you will be so proud of yourself and your progress in a few weeks!

Another of my personal self-love practices is journaling to deconstruct my limiting beliefs. You don't have to be a professional writer to start journaling. I like it because it’s such a good way to clear your mind. You can write anything in it, ANYTHING you want to get out of your head! Remember that your journal is your safe space and you can be 100% yourself. A good exercise is to write down your limiting beliefs on one side and transform them into positive thoughts on the other side. By doing this exercise regularly, I promise you'll even start to believe it.😉

Of course, I can't go without mentioning a tool that has helped me a lot lately. That's right, our famous  Badass Manifestor oracle cards! When you're new to the whole universe of self love practices, you might find it easier to be guided by a tool or something physical and tangible. The 62 cards of our oracle deck are primarily intended to help you on your journey to awaken your inner strength and become the baddest version of yourself! It seems to me that this is a good purpose, right? Personally, I pick a card every morning and it helps me a lot to refocus my energy on what’s really essential.

As you can see, there are so many ways to practice self-love and none of them are better than the other. You have to choose the ones that work for YOU! Just before I go, here are a few other ways that are very helpful to me and that may inspire you as well:

• Express my boundaries and stand for my beliefs.
• Eat a healthy diet.
• Stay well hydrated and move a little everyday.
• Surround myself with people who brighten up my day.
• Offer emotional support (or give a compliment) to someone who needs it at least once a day.

The most important thing to remember is that the goal is not to be perfect, but to practice. Not all practices work for everyone. The challenge is to find the ones that work for you and that make you feel the most empowered daily. Practicing self-love is not supposed to be a boring task! It's a short time you take for yourself, where you focus your energy on you and your well-being. We’re just going to leave this here, but February seems like a good month to start, right? 

We know you can do it!

Lots of LOVE for you!

Xx The badass team at La Pimbêche