Quotes to inspire self care
We see lot's of inspirational quotes on social media. Sometimes, they are of thought provoking messages, like:

Which is true - if you put yourself last, others are likely to put you last too.
Should people respect you and hold you in high esteem anyway? Yes. Do they? Nah, so you need to show them how it's done, and that you won't accept anything less
But some that don't seem to have been thought through properly, and can have the opposite effect and make people feel worse.
Why?
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I see so many quotes about that are bossy! You know, the ones that say 'always, never, don't, should', because they act as though we have one size fits all lives. They don't take anything else into account.
Take this quote, for example:
'Love like you've never been hurt'.
Is that good advice? I say no, because it's not been thought through.
It doesn’t take into account your personal circumstances, for example, if you've suffered abuse at the hands of your parents, or have been bullied, or have had your heart badly broken will find it difficult to achieve emotional intimacy because you've been let down.
Telling someone who's been dumped for someone else to ‘love like you've never been hurt’ is ridiculous. The only good thing to come from this type of intense emotional pain is chance to learn from the experience:
- Did you ignore your intuition telling you something wasn’t quite right?
- Did you ignore difficulties in the relationship due to fear – fear that if you bring them up, it will make things worse?
- Did you become complacent within the relationship - taken it for granted?
- Did you trust too much?
- Did you find it hard to communicate your wants and needs?
By exploring what happened fully - and I mean gentle exploration, not beating yourself up about supposed 'wrongdoing' - and gaining insight it means you're in a position to protect yourself in the future.
And being unable to 'just love again' might make you feel ‘damaged’, like there's something wrong with you for feeling cautious about giving your heart again rather than it being completely normal to want to protect yourself
Some people stumble from one destructive relationship to another without learning from their experiences, repeating behaviours and getting hurt time after time.
Surely it's better to hold back a little, get to know the potential new partner before throwing yourself in hook line and sinker only to be hurt again?
Learn from your experiences, and protecting yourself. Be open to love, but love yourself enough to take care of your heart.
Be open to love, but love yourself enough to take care of your heart #SelfLove
Oh, and the 'dance like no one is watching' isn't such a good idea either...
The best self care quotes
There are some amazing quotes which really resonate. I currently have the quote 'It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not', as my desktop wallpaper, which helps me when I'm having an 'I can't do this' day.
So here are some inspirational quotes I particularly like about self care:

If you wouldn't say it to a friend, don't say it to yourself #SelfCare

Love yourself first and everything else falls into place #SelfLove

Life is like a coin: You can spend it any way you like, but you can only spend it once #Quote

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone #success

Love yourself as much as you want to be loved #SelfLove

The relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have #SelfCare

Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable and remove yourself from the unacceptable #change

Ask yourself what you need every day & make sure you get it #needs

It's never too late to be what you might have been #InspirationalQuote

Happiness starts with you - not your relationships, not your job, not your money but with YOU #MotivationalQuote

Life's too short to be living someone elses dream #Inspiration
So if these inspirational quotes have inspired you to kickstart your own self care, take a look at the Self Care Challenge below - it's FREE!

Take my FREE 21 day Self Care Challenge, designed to kick start you into prioritizing your wellbeing and starting a regular self care habit.
Written assuming you're busy and on a budget, it's simple, highly effective and fun!