#71 Give yourself some loving

While the rest of the world is seemingly falling apart, I can still feel love in the air:

The days are getting longer and longer; we get to feel the daylight on our faces two minutes longer each day. There is some evidence to say that sunlight exposure could even help keep blood pressure in check and keep your heart stronger.

There are good, beautiful things happening around us, we just don’t hear about them (because they doesn’t generate much money). Go on Good News Network to fill your mind with inspiring stories, while giving traditional news and X a rest. Like this article about a colony of Czech beavers who built a dam exactly where local administers wanted it (but couldn’t get it done due to slow permission process), saving the local government around $1.2 million. 🦫

Human connection is everything. We thought AI is the one thing we needed to evolve as a humanity, but it’s the offline communities and interactions that’ll bring us back in touch with ourselves and the people around us. What should you do? Have conversations, take interest in people. I recently connected two wonderful humans, Mia from Mia’s Queue and Alex who writes Spin This—I just had that feeling they’ll hit it off. It’s the little things.

Self-care and love doesn’t mean buying £130 luxury face mask from La Mer and binging Netflix all night. (It can certainly mean that for some, though!). I’m thinking more in the lines of:

• Saying ‘Yes’ to things you might not feel fully ready for because you lack self-confidence, but you know yourself good enough to know you’ll try your hardest to prove you can do it. If we don’t say yes to challenges, we become complacent, we lose curiosity and eagerness to learn and explore. (And it’s ok to fail at them, too).

• Saying ‘No’ because you understand whe it’s not worth it. In the words of Paul Millerd (‘Pathless Path’): "If we don't define 'enough,' we default to more, which makes it impossible to understand when to say no." And you don’t always need more. Sometimes you need to get comfortable with where you are and what you have, because ‘more’ doesn’t always mean ‘better.’

Now’s a good time to learn to love you, the one who’s not defined by your job title or career achievements. Job market is crazy volatile right now, and clients are dropping like flies for most freelancers.

While you might be the lucky one and be kicking ass at work, maybe your LinkedIn analytics are through the roof, or your startup’s MRR has been on a steady way up, but when you sit there all by yourself without any of this external validation: do you feel comfortable being just… you?

I’ve been taking the time to do little things like jigsaw puzzle—things that have totally no other ROI besides giving me a little piece of joy and satisfaction. I’m just sat at our kitchen table, listening to a crime podcast (Rotten Mango is always bingeworthy) for a few hours at a time, just switching off entirely.

Coincidentally, for Valentine’s, I received a fitting gift: a dozen or roses but LEGO. We spent the evening putting them all together—all 800+ pieces. Now I just need a better vase but this will do for now.

Another thing that helps me shut out the loud, disturbing chaos that’s currently happening all around us is to pick up my camera. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and yours might be a pen, a console, a brush, a needle. But kind of going with the Valentine’s vibe, I wanted to have a brief creative play.

Taking that time out of your day to do something entirely focused on your own creative satisfaction is the truest form of self-love. That’s you saying, ‘I know there are a million and one things on my to-do list, but I choose me.’

When was the last time you chose ‘you’?

That’s all from me this week—if you enjoyed this newsletter issue and haven’t subscribed yet, you can click the button below. I’d love to have you here! Hopefully, catch you next week.✨