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You can’t pour from an empty cup

You can't pour from an empty cup

We often hear the phrase “you can’t pour from an empty cup” discussed in relation to taking care of other people, but I would like to offer a different perspective. This phrase can be used when considering your relationship with yourself. You can’t pour into different areas of your life if you’re not taking care of yourself. 

People are complex

As a human being, you are made up of many parts. You have multiple roles to play as well as multiple activities that you take part in. These could include your career, your passion, taking care of your home or improving on a skill, amongst other things.

It is difficult for you to show up at the best of your ability in any of these areas if you are not taking care of yourself. This is why the phrase “you can’t pour from an empty cup” also relates to you as an individual, and not only relevant in discussions of showing up for other people. 

Pouring through self-care

Self-care is important. It is defined as any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional and physical health. By taking care of and spending time with yourself, you will have the energy, motivation and excitement that you need to show up for YOURSELF in all the different areas of your life that are important to you. Self-care is personal and can include many different things including resting, spending time in nature, reading a self-help book, using a foot spa or getting your hair done. For more self-care ideas, you can refer to THIS blog post. 

Of course, the ordinary meaning of the phrase still applies. You can’t take care of others if you aren’t taking care of yourself. You can’t properly love others if you don’t know how to love yourself. The list goes on. 

However, this blog post was to remind you that even when the focus is only on yourself, self-care is important. To be able to achieve all the different things you want to, you need to begin from a solid foundation. You can’t pour from an empty cup. 

Sending you lots of love and light, Bloomers 💛🔆🌼

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8 replies on “You can’t pour from an empty cup”

Thank you Ruva. A good reminder as we celebrate the holidays. I will take some time to exercise some self care and hopefully come back in the new year rejuvenated. Enjoy your Christmas and New Year, love.

Unfortunately, self-care is sometimes seen as selfish and that discourages people from self-care. However, it’s not selfish and is actually very necessary. Great post and I couldn’t agree more: you can’t pour from an empty cup.

That is so true, labelling self-care as “selfish” can be detrimental to one’s wellness journey. Thank you for reading and adding to the conversation ❤️

Thank you, Ruva, for this apt reminder.

I knew this for a long time and can now attest to it from personal experience.
My cup got emptied and no, I could not pour from it, anymore.
Also, it is hard to build up a buffer to pour from, again.

It’s so important to practise self-care and also to keep healthy boundaries.
And it is not selfish at all – as I, like others here, have noticed that kind of stigma around this topic. Or, if it is, it is a healthy kind of selfishness and nothing to be ashamed of.

Sending much Love!

Thank you so much for adding such depth to the conversation, Stefanie. You added something really important – keeping healthy boundaries. Sending much love right back! ❤️

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