Cybill Shepherd Was Right: You're Worth It

Hello, friends!  Olivia Lee here with a message of love and self-care this holiday season.

As those whose mamas and daddies aren't grinches can attest, this is a wonderful time of year.  It's a time of year where we open ourselves up to emotional vulnerability and share our love and gratitude for our family, friends, and fellow man.  But, dear readers, do you show such love and gratitude for yourself?  Hear me out (come closer, I have wisdom to share with you):

I know how it goes.  Really, I do.  You spend all this time and money and effort buying thoughtful gifts for those closest to your heart.  You bake and cook until your burned, blistered, wounded hands can no longer take it so that you can nourish your family and friends.  You nurture holiday traditions for your family at the cost of time spent nurturing your own soul and spirit.  I know how it is.  The things you do for others are remarkable.

But you deserve love, nourishment, and nurturing, too.  So, go ahead.  Pour yourself a stiff top-shelf drink.  Buy yourself that nice box of chocolates you were eyeing for your mother-in-law and eat it all by yourself.  Take a long bubble bath with the swanky bath products you were saving for your Secret Santa.  You do so much for so many others.  Now is the time to do right by yourself.  You'll be surprised how much more festive you feel when you treat yourself as well as you treat your loved ones.

Take me, for example. 

Now, I know my worth.  Lately I've been starting the beginning stages of teething, which, I don't need to tell you good readers, is a serious bitch.  Mom offers me lots of teething options: water-filled rings, gummy-winged toy bugs, satin-rimmed chewing blankets, and even, God love her, her own fingers.  These are good options - they really are - but they are not the best.  So, do I take these good options, sigh, and call it good enough?  Hell no, people!  I don't settle for less than the best, and the best is Mama's shoulder.  Deeeeeeeelicous.  When that lady offers any of her second-tier chewing options, I politely remind her through my screaming and flailing that only the best will do for me this holiday season, and she'd better get a new burp cloth on that thing right quick, too.

So, take my advice, friends.  This season of giving, give to yourself.  This season of caring, care for yourself.  This season of loving, love yourself.  You, like me, are the reason for the season.