Learning to Love Myself More {Giveaway}

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{The Portland Moms Blog team had the awesome opportunity to partner with the locally based Love You More Project for this sponsored post. All opinions are my own.}

save you more.image.sideways (1)One of the perks of writing for this site is the opportunity to learn more about and engage with some amazing organizations in the community. Recently, I was able to attend a workshop with Selena Maestas, owner of the Love You More Project, and an amazingly courageous and powerful mom. Her business’ mission is to give women permission to make themselves a priority. What a concept, right?

This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I work (more than) full-time, have an active four year old, a busy husband, a father who lives with me AND I just finished treatment for breast cancer. It can be really challenging to take a shower every day, let alone make time for my dreams and desires. And that’s where Coach Selena’s workshop comes in. Imagine three hours focused on self-care, dreaming big and learning real concrete steps to help you learn to LOVE yourself more.

It can sound “woo woo,” but the reality is that the old adage, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” is a truth to which many of us can relate. I know when I’m feeling particularly stressed-out or irritable, my son often begins to behave poorly. When I’m feeling content and rested, everything just seems to flow much smoother. My goal for attending the workshop was to see how I could get more of latter and less of the former!

We spent the first hour or so really dialing in to our goals, our dreams and our vision. There were writing exercises and group discussion among the 8-10 other women who were there. That was perhaps my favorite part of the evening. Getting to hear the stories and the dreams of other women and moms like me was inspiring as well as reassuring. So many of the feelings I have are the same as other moms. It felt so good to know that I was not alone and that, while the details may be slightly different, the feelings are the same.

Love You More Workshop

One of the best tips I took with me was to put sticky notes around your house as reminders of what’s important to you. Words that guide you. The words on my stickies? PERSEVERANCE, COMPASSION and MOVEMENT.

After writing our manifesto, we created our vision boards. It was really fun to do my own art project! There is no need for serious artistic ability; Selena provided all of the tools and guidance to help us create boards that accurately and beautifully capture our vision for who we want to be and what we want to do in the world. I only wished we had had more time!

Creating our manifesto vision boards. My board is displayed in my office where I see it everyday.
Creating our manifesto vision boards. My board is displayed in my office where I see it everyday.

The Love You More Project provides workshops for women to begin their Love You More Journey, and there is an active Facebook community and plans for in-person meet-ups. It’s been great to get updates from other members of the group and see what’s continuing to work for them. Selena’s emails and Facebook updates are a daily inspiration in my day.

Every PDX mom I know could benefit from this group and workshops. The way we often push up against life and allow ourselves to sit at the bottom of the to-do list can be highly detrimental to our physical and emotional well-being. It’s critical in order to be good moms and partners–but let’s face it–we deserve it for ourselves too.

Two Giveaways!

Following my positive personal experience with Love You More, I’m SO excited to share a special reader giveaway! One reader will receive two free tickets for Selena’s next Manifesto workshop on October 11 ($115 value). Another two readers will each get a 30 min Love You More personal guidance sessions ($197 value). Enter each of the giveaways below. Then, to get started, learn how to write your personal manifesto

Love You More Workshop Love You More Personal Guidance Session

 

 

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