Hey guys.
So the theme of today's vlog is self-love when you're feeling down,
because I haven't been feeling the best
and I just wanted to spend the day giving myself love
and showing you how I deal with things.
So I don't know if you can tell,
I mean, I chose a good lighting angle,
but I've been dealing with a skin allergic reaction,
irritation, something for the past almost a week.
And it happened right after I got my second shot of the COVID vaccine,
the Pfizer vaccine.
So I'm not sure if it's an allergic reaction from that or something else,
but my skin was like red itchy.
The texture was all like weird and just not great. Right?
So now I'm kind of dealing with the aftermath.
Like it's still itchy.
It's really dry.
It's like peeling and the texture is terrible.
And I don't know, I just don't feel so hot.
And yet I still have to work.
I have to film my monthly plan with me video after this,
because it's the end of the month.
I can't wait another day.
Like I got to do it.
And I know you guys are waiting for it.
And I really haven't been able to do any skincare.
I'm not going to put on makeup for at least a week
because everything on my face stings.
So it's a bummer, but it's not the end of the world. Life goes on.
It's just a little inconvenience. On top of the physical,
I've also just been feeling a little lost, a little like unsure, uncertain.
What am I doing with my life? Who am I these days?
If you've paid attention to my videos for like the past few months,
I feel like I keep talking about like renewing yourself, transforming.
I'm going through a transition.
And I don't know what's on the other side.
I still feel that way.
It's not something that can be solved in like one video
or one week or even one month.
I just am going with the flow.
I need to surrender to whatever life is throwing at me right now.
And in the meantime, since I'm not feeling that confidence,
I'm feeling, you know, out of touch with myself,
it is time to just spend more time focusing and building my self love.
The first act of self-love today is wearing something kind of cute
so that I don't feel like a complete bum
because I've literally just been a couch potato
watching kdramas the past couple of days so,
trying to feel a little bit better about myself.
This is his spot to wait for fruits.
Let me give you a fruit tour.
We always have bananas.
Extras.
Mangoes are in season. These are so good right now.
We have a papaya, pineapple, some tangerines, oranges.
These are, I think grapefruit grown, organically grown from a family member.
Those are my moms.
I always need to have apples on deck.
You guys know part of my favorite daily fruit bowl.
Some blueberries and strawberries. Strawberries are in season.
I need to get more.
And some seedless grapes, because I like to snack on these sometimes.
Togi's excited because he knows he's going to eat fruit soon.
Today, I'm putting in my fruit bowl one apple, banana,
finished these strawberries and some blueberries.
As I'm making my fruit bowl I'd like to take this moment to thank
BetterHelp for sponsoring this video.
BetterHelp is professional counseling done securely online
and is available for clients worldwide.
Once you sign up, BetterHelp will assess your needs
and match you with your own licensed professional therapist.
On the app you can message your counselor
or schedule a weekly video or phone session.
It's really easy since everything is done online and on your own time.
What's great is that it's a minimal commitment.
You can switch therapists if you don't like yours
and you can cancel any time If you don't like it.
it's more affordable than traditional offline counseling
and financial aid is also available.
If you want to nurture your mental health with professional counseling,
try BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/aileen
and join over 1 million people taking charge of their mental health
with the help of an experienced professional,
since BetterHelp is sponsoring this video.
They're offering the Lavendaire community 10% off your first month.
Just go to BetterHelp.com/aileen.
Let's talk about self-love.
So I believe self-love always starts with self acceptance.
You can't love yourself.
If you don't accept yourself and accepting yourself means that
you don't wish that you were any different than you are right now.
That means learning to accept the current version of you,
not the ideal imaginary version of you
learning to accept your flaws
and the mistakes you've made and your weaknesses.
It's okay to have weaknesses and flaws.
Learning to love yourself is also learning not to be your own worst critic,
not to be anything but your own best friend and number one support.
So do everything you can to support and give love to your body,
your mind, your soul, your emotional health, everything.
Think about what it means to love someone unconditionally.
Unconditionally means that person doesn't need to do anything
or be any way for you to love them.
You already love them, regardless of anything, they do.
It doesn't matter if they succeed or fail.
It doesn't matter if they do something good or bad.
If they make a mistake, all of it is okay.
And so learn to have that unconditional love for yourself.
Look at yourself as someone that you love the most.
So to me, self-love is a lot about being super gentle with yourself,
being super accepting of yourself, and then just taking care of yourself.
It's also about learning how to release or protect yourself
from anything that makes you feel bad about yourself.
Anything that holds you back or puts you down, including,
you know, voices from people around you, opinions and criticism,
including comparing yourself to other people,
whether it's online or in real life,
including your own self-talk to yourself in your mind,
you have to learn to make sure that you're not putting yourself down.
You're not making it any harder for yourself than it needs to be.
And that your voice in your head is gentle and loving and supportive.
For example, instead of being harsh on yourself
and putting yourself down for making a mistake
or for not being productive or anything like that,
be the voice that gives yourself love.
It's okay. Like you are okay. You're doing great already.
I support you no matter what.
Self love is also learning how to nurture your own energy.
So for example, the basics are knowing
if you're an introvert or extrovert.
If you get energy from being with people or being by yourself,
because you need to do what allows you to recharge your energy
and nurture your energy back to health.
This also includes blocking or setting boundaries
between you and people with toxic or negative energy.
Just anything that is not helping you or not serving you
learning to stay away, keep some space and boundary there.
Lastly, knowing how to nurture your own energy is knowing yourself,
knowing the things that make you feel good,
that bring you joy, that make you feel alive.
And actually it's carving out time in your schedule to do those things.
Really self love when you're feeling down is just learning to
tune into yourself on all levels
and a learning to give yourself what you need at whatever level you need,
whether it's physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or something else.
Like if you haven't exercised in a while,
go out and move your body.
If you need to cry, allow yourself to cry.
Don't stifle yourself in any way. Just let yourself go.
Do what you need to do to feel better about yourself.
A question you can ask yourself is:
what do I really need right now?
So ask yourself that question. I would journal it.
I would like list whatever comes to mind
and then ask yourself again, is this what I really need?
What do I really need right now?
And it could be simple. Maybe you just really need sleep, right?
Maybe you need to call a friend and talk to someone about something.
Or for me, in my case, what do I really need?
I would probably say, I really need to stop allowing myself
to get distracted.
I notice I've been self sabotaging myself a little bit,
and I really need to just slow down and allow myself to
flow with how I feel.
If you know about astrology, I'm going through something called a Pluto Transit.
Pluto is squaring my sun, my mercury, and my venus.
And what that means is for the next three years,
pluto, which is the planet of transformation,
destruction, death, and regeneration.
Pluto is transforming my identity, which is my sun,
how I think and how I communicate, my ideas and everything,
which is the planet mercury.
And my relationships and everything related to beauty and harmony,
which is Venus.
When I talk about astrology, I do feel like I need to add subtitles
because when I say like sun, mercury, venus,
like I know only like 2% of the people watching this
will understand what that means,
but every planet signifies like a mental function.
But bottom line is my life is being rocked and changed
and transformation is happening over
the next three years in a very like deep, life shaking way.
By the way, if you guys want to dig deep into your chart
and learn about your transits, what's affecting your life right now,
my favorite app for that it's called Time Passages
and another app that's more, I guess, beginner friendly
because it gives you just like the explanation
and not the actual planets of astrology,
that one is called The Pattern.
So I'll show you on The Pattern, the three-year transformation,
how it describes what I'm going to go through
or what I'm currently going through.
The Pattern, this is the one that I said was beginner friendly.
Cause it kind of just tells you like descriptions of your transits
and just things happening to you.
So your pattern, this is based on your birth chart,
kind of like your personality, your cycle,
these are transits and things happening.
So like seven months left in this one,
these are just different themes that you're going through in your life.
So the Pluto Transit that
I'm talking about is this one is called transformation.
And for me, it's from 2021 to this one says 2023,
but it can go to other ones that it would go to the 2024.
What's also cool about this app is you can click here
and you can see like real people's comments who are also
going through the same kind of transit.
And there were some crazy stories in here, but yeah,
it's worth exploring if you're interested.
This app is called Down Dog for any of you guys interested.
I love that you can just set the time.
And today I'm going to do a full practice.
Look, Togi always likes to be on my mat.
I always feel good after yoga, I feel so relaxed.
I feel like yoga detoxes your physical body and also kind of just,
it releases so much mental, physical.
It's just nice.
I guess now I'm going to shower, have some dinner and then relax.
Enjoy my night.
Probably finish my kdrama tonight.
This is not a typical dinner.
I normally eat with Wilson, but he's out today,
but my mom has some leftovers, some pork and egg,
some salad and rice.
I just crack this open Tzatziki ranch. I'm going to try this.
Call me weird, but I'm adding some pineapple.
Because it goes good with everything.
So the kdrama I'm watching right now is this one called The Producers.
It's old, but it's actually really good. It has IU.
I love IU.
It's not the most exciting, but after episode three,
it gets really interesting and I enjoyed it.