How to Ignite a Self-Love Revolution with Jenna Teague

14 May

Self-Love is something we hear about often but how do you actually embrace it and weave it into your life especially when daily chaos never seems to end? Today I am joined by the lovely Jenna Teague, self-love expert and all around amazing human. If you've been left wondering if self-love is for you, you'll leave this conversation KNOWING it's been here for you all along.

At her core, Jenna is a healer on a mission to ignite a revolution of self-love. From over a decade supporting clients’ healing in her psychotherapy practice to sparking business healing for coaches and entrepreneurs, Jenna co-creates with her clients game-changing shifts in their lives and businesses. She knows, deep down in her bones, that presence always trumps perfection, and building community is what lights her up most. If you want to see Jenna at her giddiest (and geekiest), invite her to your next creative brainstorming session. She lives for that. And if you want to see her in her happy place, you need only three things: the ocean, music, and the people she loves the most. Bonus points for bringing along Reilly and Raider, her beloved pups.

Self-love is more essential than ever. We often seek validation from outside sources, whether it’s approval from family, recognition from peers, or likes on social media. But true, enduring self-love can only come from within, where we know our own worth and are at peace with who we are.

In a recent episode of the Mindful Productivity Podcast, I sat down with Jenna Teague—a healer, licensed therapist, and business coach—who’s on a mission to ignite a self-love revolution. Jenna's wisdom and approach to self-love are both inspiring and refreshingly honest. She explains that self-love isn’t just about indulgent self-care or surface-level practices; it’s about creating a deep, unshakable foundation of worth and acceptance.

In our conversation, Jenna shared insights about her journey and the principles of self-love that have helped her clients transform their lives. Below, I’ll walk you through some of the most powerful takeaways from our talk, including how self-love can change the way we approach life, relationships, and, most importantly, ourselves.

The Core of a Self-Love Revolution

Jenna believes that self-love is foundational to living a fulfilling life, enhancing our relationships, and building resilience. On her website, Jenna writes, “Ignite a Self-Love Revolution,” a phrase that reflects her mission of helping people reclaim their worth and confidence. But what does this really mean?

As Jenna shared, self-love isn’t simply a matter of feeling good about ourselves. It’s a commitment to recognizing and nurturing our inherent worth. In her view, “Self-love is the beginning and the end of love; it's the alpha and the omega.” When we truly love ourselves, we can offer love to others freely, without neediness or dependence. Self-love gives us a sense of security and empowerment that is not reliant on anyone else’s approval.

For Jenna, this journey isn’t just about self-care practices like bubble baths or spa days (though she fully supports doing these if they make you happy). Rather, it’s about the way we talk to ourselves, the boundaries we set, and the standards we uphold. True self-love is about meeting our emotional, mental, and physical needs with compassion, honesty, and consistency.

Why Self-Love Is More Important Than Ever

When we’re constantly connected to social media and bombarded with images of perfection, it’s easy to fall into the comparison trap. Jenna believes that our current social climate perpetuates a “teenage mindset” of seeking external validation, and that can severely undercut our self-worth. The more we look to others for acceptance, the harder it becomes to recognize our own value.

The Ripple Effect of Self-Love
Our self-love doesn’t only affect us—it influences the people around us, too. Jenna pointed out that when we love ourselves, we bring a sense of security and balance into all of our relationships. In romantic and familial relationships, for instance, self-love allows us to enjoy what others offer without feeling dependent on them for happiness. We’re able to bring a fuller, more confident self into every relationship, allowing love to flow in a way that’s healthy and sustainable.

Jenna’s Journey: From People Pleasing to Self-Love

Jenna’s personal journey has informed much of her approach to self-love. Growing up, her father was intentional about instilling confidence and self-assurance in her. Despite this foundation, Jenna, like many of us, found herself getting caught up in people-pleasing as she grew older. “I became focused on being nice and sweet, on having everyone like me,” she recalled. Her self-worth was largely based on others’ opinions of her, a habit that left her exhausted and uncertain of herself.

A turning point came in college when Jenna’s father was diagnosed with cancer and later passed away. This loss shook her world and forced her to confront how much she had depended on others for her sense of self. Without her father’s support, she felt ungrounded and realized that she needed to rebuild her confidence and self-worth from within.

Through this experience, Jenna learned the value of setting boundaries, practicing self-compassion, and being honest with herself about her needs. Her journey led her to a career in psychology, where she’s now able to help others on their own journeys toward self-love.

Moving Beyond Self-Care Myths

Many people think of self-love as a luxury, something only accessible when we have time or resources for it. Jenna reminds us that self-love is actually about consistency in the little things, and it doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s version of care.

Self-Love Isn’t Just Self-Care
Jenna makes a key distinction between self-love and self-care. While self-love is an internal practice, driven by our thoughts and beliefs, self-care is an external manifestation of that love. It’s about taking actions that honor and nourish us physically, emotionally, and mentally. Acts of self-care like getting a massage or spending a day at the spa are wonderful, but they’re not the full picture.

True self-love, she explains, often involves setting boundaries, saying no, and even asking for help. It’s recognizing when we’re overextending ourselves and giving ourselves permission to slow down. Sometimes, self-care is about doing what’s uncomfortable—like facing difficult emotions or having hard conversations. It’s about holding space for ourselves and respecting our own needs, even if they’re inconvenient or messy.

Making Self-Love a Priority in a Busy World

For many of us, self-love sounds wonderful but feels impossible in the midst of our busy lives. How do we prioritize ourselves when we’re juggling work, family, and other obligations?

1. Start Small
Jenna encourages us to focus on small, consistent actions. For some, self-love might mean something as simple as taking a five-minute break to breathe deeply, while for others, it might mean taking an hour to read a book. The goal is to find what works for you and commit to it. By incorporating small acts of self-love into our daily routines, we gradually build a sense of worth and confidence that doesn’t depend on outside validation.

2. If Not for Yourself, Then for Someone Else
If you find it difficult to practice self-love for your own sake, Jenna suggests doing it for someone else’s benefit. Maybe you’re modeling self-love for your children, teaching them how to honor their needs and boundaries. Or perhaps you’re doing it to set an example for your partner or a close friend. Often, when we start taking care of ourselves for the sake of others, we begin to see the positive effects it has on our lives, which motivates us to continue.

3. Ask for Help
Asking for help is one of the most powerful acts of self-love. It allows us to release the burden of doing everything on our own and fosters connection and trust with the people around us. Jenna sees asking for help as an act of vulnerability and courage, and she reminds us that it’s okay to need support.

Self-Love as an Ongoing Journey

If there’s one thing Jenna hopes people take away, it’s that self-love is not a one-time event but a lifelong journey. We all have moments when we feel unworthy or inadequate, but the beauty of self-love is that it grows with us. Jenna’s parting advice was to remember that “You are inherently worthy. There’s nothing you have to change or achieve to earn your worthiness. It is your birthright.”

By practicing self-love, we give ourselves permission to be human. We honor our strengths and acknowledge our flaws without judgment. As we develop self-compassion, we’re better equipped to show compassion for others, creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone we interact with.

If you’re just starting on your self-love journey, know that every small step counts. Focus on what you need in this moment and go from there. Jenna’s wisdom reminds us that self-love isn’t selfish; it’s essential. And as you learn to honor and appreciate yourself, you’ll find that everything else—your relationships, your goals, and your daily life—begins to align with a deeper, truer sense of who you are.

To learn more about Jenna’s work, you can visit her website at JennaTeague.com or follow her on Instagram @JennaTeague. Embrace your journey toward self-love; you’re worth every step.

Conclusion
Self-love is the foundation for a fulfilling, balanced, and joyful life. Through Jenna’s story and insights, we see that self-love isn’t about perfection; it’s about acceptance, compassion, and resilience. As we begin to honor ourselves, we create a positive impact on the world around us. So take a moment today to connect with yourself, honor your worth, and remember—you are enough, exactly as you are.

Learn More about Jenna

Website: www.jennateague.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennateague/

Sarah Steckler
Our conversation today is really powerful. I got so much out of it, and I just can't wait to share it with all of you. So without further Ado, allow me to give you a formal introduction of Jenna Tig. So at her core, Jenna is a healer on a mission to ignite a revolution of selflove from over a decade, supporting clients, healing in her psychotherapy practice to sparking business healing for coaches and entrepreneurs, Jenna cocreates with her clients gamechanging shifts in their lives and businesses. She knows deep down in her bones that presence always trumps perfection, and building community is what lights her up the most.
Sarah Steckler
If you want to see Jenna at her gidest and geekiest, invite her to your next Creative brainstorming session.
Sarah Steckler
She lives for that.
Sarah Steckler
And if you want to see her in her happy place, you need only three things the ocean, music and the people she loves the most. Bonus points for bringing along Reilly and Raider, her beloved pups. Make sure that you check out Jenna Tig at Jenna Tig. Com or follow her along on Instagram at Jenna Teague. Let's go ahead and dive into today's episode and talk about what it means to ignite a selflove revolution. Welcome to the Mindful Productivity Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Steckler, and this is the place to be to live a more mindful and productive life.
Sarah Steckler
If you're ready to turn daily chaos into calm and start your days with intention, then get ready to join me as we dive deep into mindful living and personal productivity. It's time to connect with your true self so you can live the life you want to live and it all starts now.
Sarah Steckler
I am so excited to have you on the podcast today and to hear all of your wisdom about self love. I just want to say thank you so much for being here today.
Jenna Teague
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here. I love your podcast, and self love is my favorite thing to talk about. Probably so I could not be more excited to have this conversation with you today.
Sarah Steckler
Yay. I know. I'm excited. Yeah, it's amazing. And self love is such an important topic, and I'm just so glad to have your expertise, and I have so many questions to dive into today, and I know that listeners are going to get a lot out of this podcast. So I wanted to ask you first, like, one of the first things. First of all, I love following all of your wisdom. Your Instagram account is not only beautiful, but just so intentional and thoughtful. And every time I see a post from you come up, it just really reminds me to step into that space and hold compassion for myself.
Sarah Steckler
Just like, thank you for continually putting that out into the world. It's so needed.
Jenna Teague
Thank you. That means so much to hear that from you. Instagram is a place that I love. I think it's a positive place. For the most part. I enjoy spending time there, and I really do want to contribute positively in that way. So if it's coming across that way for you, that could not make me happier.
Sarah Steckler
Oh, I'm glad. Yeah, absolutely. I know. For whatever reason, Instagram is kind of like it feels like the more high vibe place to be on social media. I don't know why it always feels that way.
Jenna Teague
It does. I totally agree.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah. So one of the first things I want to point out is for any of you listening when you head to Jenna's website, one of the first things you're going to see is just this gorgeous image. I love all the colors and the pinks and purples. But you say on your website, you say ignite a self love revolution. And when I read that, it really resonated with me. And I'd love if you could speak a little more about what that means and what it means to have a self love revolution.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. I mean, that is my mission. It took me a while to figure that out, but that is one of the cornerstones I think of what I'm here to do is spread the word that self love is really, in my opinion, the Alpha and the Omega. It's the beginning and the end of love. And in loving ourselves, that is how we get to truly being able to love others and allow them to love us back. So I could not be more passionate about spreading that revolution, igniting it far and wide so that as many people on the planet as possible know the importance of learning to love yourself first.
Sarah Steckler
I love that. And I think, too. It's kind of this. I don't know if you feel this way, but it's almost this time of reclamation, like reclaiming our self worth and our self love, especially since I think there's this ingrained feeling, especially for women, that it's selfish or that it's conceded or something like that. And I just love how you reframe it and how it really impacts everyone when you really love yourself.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. I also like to say that love isn't. I think for many women and men, we have this belief, and maybe it's our Western cultural belief that love is a gift that is bestowed upon you by another, and that we're sort of just constantly waiting and seeking someone to bestow on us that gift of love and therefore confirm that we're worthy or that we're enough or that we're okay. And in my view, love isn't just a gift that others can bestow upon us. It's something that we can create for ourselves and generate for ourselves.
Jenna Teague
Because if we don't learn how to generate our own feelings of love and worthiness, we are constantly dependent on approval and acceptance from others, like a morphine drip. We're just looking outside ourselves, waiting for some sort of confirmation that we're okay. So I absolutely think that it is not selfish to generate your own feelings of love. It's necessary. It is self preservation. It's survival because looking outside ourselves for love and having that be the only source of love in our lives, it's really fatal.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah. Listening to your words is just so comforting. And I think so many people are going to resonate with this also. And I think, too, that feels so abundant when I think about really cultivating and creating that own self love, that self worth. And I think you're so right. I know in times when I was a lot younger or when I was a teenager, I would often feel like I was constantly in search of this of love and appreciation and validation. And I think there's times when we want to be validated, and that's fine.
Sarah Steckler
But to be in a space where you know that you are creating it for yourself, and it's endless that changes everything.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. It makes us feel so much more empowered, I think, and so much more self sufficient and so much more inherently worthy. And when we bring that energy into relationships, any kind of relationship, romantic, friendship, family relationships. When we come at it from a place of I'm already okay. I'm already worthy. I can sustain myself on my own. We have the capacity to make our relationship so much healthier because we're not beholden to the other person. We're not looking to them to make us feel okay or to make us feel loved.
Jenna Teague
We can do that for ourselves. And so getting into relationships is so much like cleaner. There's just a cleaner base to it. It's not this sort of complicated, anxiety ridden fear of losing you type of place. Do you know what I mean?
Sarah Steckler
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, too, when you're in that space where you really have that self love, that confidence that just inner appreciation for yourself, then whatever else someone gives you, it just builds on that. It's like you can almost appreciate it more because you're not in a place of need and or scarcity or desperation. You're in a place of really being able to appreciate it and be like, yeah, and see it from that lens.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. It's such a bonus. It's like, oh, my God. Wow.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah. Exactly.
Jenna Teague
I mean, I felt good, but this is amazing. Thank you for saying that. Thank you for doing that, however, someone is showing their love for you. Yeah, I totally agree.
Sarah Steckler
I love that. And another question, too. I had, and it's a little presumptuous. But why do you feel like we're maybe in a time when we need self love more than ever?
Jenna Teague
Yeah. I think we've always needed more self love. I don't know what it's like to live in a different time. But if I take what I've learned, I think that there was always an opportunity for more self love in our lives. But I think right now something that you said earlier about being a teenager when you were a teenager and you would look outside yourself for acceptance. That's such a classic teenager sort of state of mind, because when we're in our teens, we are supposed to be looking to our social circle.
Jenna Teague
That's where all of our energy is placed outside of ourselves, on our friends, looking for acceptance, looking for a peer group, looking for validation. That's just the time developmentally where we're supposed to be doing that. But I think there are certain aspects of our culture right now that perpetuate kind of that teenage mindset. And one of those things, in my opinion, is social media because social media is all about the external and looking at what other people are doing and comparing and measuring yourself against peers or even people who aren't your peers.
Jenna Teague
I think that sort of keeps us in that mindset of like, I need to find validation in others. I need to find a group that I fit in with. I need to see how I'm measuring up compared with other people around me. And I think that comparison mindset does not foster self love at all. In fact, I think it undercuts our ability to find love for ourselves because it takes our attention from within and our assessments of value from within ourselves and put some on other people.
Sarah Steckler
Absolutely. And I think, too, I don't know if you can relate, but it's almost like we have this permission or we give ourselves this permission when we're a teenager without realizing it. To feel insecure. It's part of the notion of going into adulthood. But when we get older, when we hit our 30s or 40s, whatever, all of a sudden, it's like, well, if I do feel insecure or if I don't feel self love, I should have already figured that out by now. And so we kind of create this pressure for ourselves.
Sarah Steckler
And I think it's almost harder to do the work because we're not even giving ourselves that allowance.
Jenna Teague
Yeah, we think that we're behind exactly. We missed the steps that we were supposed to have achieved by now. We're behind on the journey. Everyone else is ahead of us. Everyone else has their stuff together. I don't know if I can curse on your podcast.
Sarah Steckler
Oh, you can. Absolutely.
Jenna Teague
Okay. So everyone else has their shit together except us. We have this feeling that we're alone in not having figured this out. And that creates even more isolation and even less confidence in our ability to get to where we want to be in to figure it out.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah. I love to how you mentioned just how social media makes us want to fit in, and that really actually really struck a nerve with me because I was like, oh, yeah. I can definitely see how I still do that. There's this part of me that's like, oh, I want to be a trailblazer, and I want to be completely different. But then there's also this part of me that's, like when I'm aware of how different I might be in a certain way, it's like, oh, but I don't fit in.
Sarah Steckler
Or how would I explain this on social media? And so it almost creates this unnecessary pressure?
Jenna Teague
Absolutely.
Sarah Steckler
So I love to know, too, just kind of what your journey into self love has been like, you have so much wisdom to share about it. You're so well versed and how you explain it. Could you tell us a little bit more about how you came to really step into this space? And was there, like, a pivotal moment that really shifted everything for you?
Jenna Teague
Yeah. I think there was one of the components I think that figured prominently in my journey with self love is my dad. My dad was sort of a pop psychologist in his own right. Like, he was very into personal development and growth and reading all the sort of pop psychology books and parenting books. And so he was really intentional when I was growing up that he wanted to create a really solid foundation of self confidence in me. That was like his goal as a dad was to make me feel really confident and secure and sure of myself.
Jenna Teague
And he definitely did that as a young child. I think I did have a lot of confidence and was pretty sure of my own worth. But then, as we were kind of touching on earlier, reaching my team like, that solid foundation sort of flew out the window because we're constantly looking to other people and thinking like, oh, gosh, I thought I was doing pretty good, but maybe I'm not. How am I measuring up to my peers? So around that time, like, high school College, I got really trapped in people pleasing and wanting to be nice and sweet and have people like me.
Jenna Teague
And I was really dependent on that approval from others to the point where the self confidence that I built beforehand and the self love that I had really fell to the background, and I didn't prioritize it. And I prioritized what other people thought of me. And I think what really turned things around for me was in College. My dad got sick. He was diagnosed with cancer, and he passed away when I was a senior in College. And that was something that not a lot of my peers had experienced at that age losing a parent and understandably, so they didn't know how to react.
Jenna Teague
I didn't know how to react, and I was going through it. A lot of my friendships sort of crumbled under the pressure of that and not knowing how to handle it. And I've really started to realize that not taking care of myself, not putting boundaries in for myself, always looking to others had left me in this place of feeling really alone and unequipped to take care of myself. And now here my dad, who was one of my biggest cheerleaders, was gone. So that was really kind of my wake up call of needing to change my priorities and needing to change the way I was handling things in life because where I thought I was being generous and unselfish and kind, I was really over giving to the point of undercutting my own.
Jenna Teague
Wellbeing, so that was kind of my wake up call, and since then it's been a mostly forward moving March towards self love with its ups and downs. But I would say that was the pivotal moment that made me realize, like, hey, you're missing something here. Let's go back to basics. Let's go back to taking care of ourselves. And that sort of put me on the journey to studying psychology and becoming a therapist and choosing to make this the cornerstone of the work that I do in the world so powerful and such a young age to lose a parent.
Sarah Steckler
And that really resonated with me, too. My dad passed away when I was 23, so I can completely understand it's like that's such a great way to describe self love, because I think when something tragic or just throws us off course happens and we don't have that really centered place of being able to ground ourselves and trust in ourselves, which is such a huge component of self love, it can really throw us. And I remember, too, feeling like, oh, wow. I didn't realize how much I defined my life around certain things that can really change.
Sarah Steckler
And I think a core of self love is finding this totem within yourself of unshakeable self love. And like you said, it's a journey, and it's a process, and we're going to have ups and downs. And part of the love is allowing for that. But I completely understand that I had a similar experience with losing lots of friends and just trying to pave the way, how do you handle that, right? Like, nobody gives you a guidebook for losing a parent. So I really loved how you shared that.
Sarah Steckler
I think that's really relatable in a lot of ways.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. Even just in this moment, like, listening to you, it takes me back to that sort of, like, 21 year old place of like, I needed to hear that then. So hearing that from you now because I didn't have any peers at the time that had lost a parent and hearing that you had similar experiences is really validating to the 21 year old me.
Sarah Steckler
I know. I feel like we should have a whole discussion offline about what it's like because it really does change you. I think it changes how you develop, too, in that time of your life as well. This kind of leads into a great point and kind of my next question in that a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about self love, or they assume that it means just the surface level stuff, like bubble baths and stuff. And I'd love for you to talk just a little bit more about some of the myths about self love and maybe even some ways that you've helped people move past some of those things.
Jenna Teague
Yeah, definitely. First off, I would say that for me, there's a distinction that I make between self love and self care. So for me, self love is driven by our thoughts, our beliefs, the way that we talk to ourselves within our own head. Whereas self care is more about actions and behaviors that we take. So I think that both of those sides of that equation are important. We need to focus on the internal, the thoughts, beliefs, the way that we talk to ourselves. And also we need to enact those thoughts and beliefs in the way that we take care of ourselves, the actions that we take our behaviors and actually those two things both feed each other.
Jenna Teague
Like sometimes just taking an action that is loving toward ourselves helps to change the way that we think about ourselves and our beliefs and our feelings of worthiness. And then sometimes changing our feelings of worthiness makes us more likely to do behaviors that are self loving. So it's a chicken and egg kind of a thing. The change goes both ways. And I think when it comes to misconceptions about self love or self care as much as I love Instagram. And I said so just a few minutes ago, I think Instagram does sort of perpetuate a kind of idealized view of what self love is by showing self care acts like, oh, bubble bath getting massages here.
Jenna Teague
I'm going to put a post of my $15 Acai Bowl that I got, but it's really so much more than that. Of course, does a bubble bath feel self loving? Absolutely. It can feel that way. Can it be a part of our self care and self love routine? 100%. But things have to go deeper into our boundaries, our beliefs, our self talk, our relationships with ourselves and with others. And so even if we are doing those surface level things that give us warm fuzzies or make us feel relaxed or happy, we also have to be looking underneath.
Jenna Teague
That is just as important.
Sarah Steckler
I love how you've gently called that out, though, like, it's very true. And I read an article a while back that I really loved. It was something along the lines of how self care cannot always feel good. Like, sometimes it's self care and self love is hard work and also too, just to dip a little bit into, like, some of these things that we see on social media about self care are like very privileged States of self care, like, if you have money or if you have time, right.
Sarah Steckler
Like, there are so many people that are in a place where those things aren't available to them. And so I love this approach of just getting really real with the fact that taking care of ourselves is not always glamorous.
Jenna Teague
Yes. And it is about consistency. It's not about these indulgent. Like, oh, I got a spa day moment. If we have the privilege of being able to do that once every three months, I get a massage. It's about what you're thinking about yourself, what you're saying to yourself and how you're feeding yourself and nourishing yourself and clothing yourself. I mean, basics on a daily basis.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah, I know. And sometimes it's like the simple things, like coming back to kind of like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Like when I was, I was in a really deep depression for about a year of my life. Like, I'm talking can't get out of bed really bad. And for me, e selfcare at that moment was I shower. I haven't showered in three days, but today I showered or today I got out of bed and just really needing yourself to I think where you are in terms of what you need.
Sarah Steckler
And for some people, self care is going to be a lot different depending on your mental state, depending on your life circumstances. It just depends on getting clear on that for yourself.
Jenna Teague
Yes. And to not. I love that to not hold yourself to these external standards of what self care is supposed to look like or what we think it should be or where we think we should be with our self love or our self care. Yeah.
Sarah Steckler
I love, too. I think there's just a quick side. I think, too. It's realizing that we don't have to share every aspect of our journey or our self care. I think there's this I feel tempted all the time to share a lot of personal stuff on Instagram, and then sometimes I go, what would be an even bigger act of self care to myself is creating that level of Privacy and protection and holding space for the fact that my journey doesn't also need to be this big lesson that I share with everyone.
Sarah Steckler
Like, there can be parts of self care and self love that are completely personal and that don't need to be shared.
Jenna Teague
Yes. And it's not like picture it didn't happen. You don't have to post it on Instagram to prove that you've done it, whether it's proving to someone else or proving it to yourself.
Sarah Steckler
And that comes back to the validation piece. Right. Like, yeah, it's just really holding that space pics are going to happen. That's so true. I often feel that way. I'm like, I'm like, Well, if I go do this thing out in nature and I don't take a picture of it and tell people about it, am I still going to enjoy it, right?
Jenna Teague
Yeah.
Sarah Steckler
But that's such a good point. I love that.
Jenna Teague
And also giving that gift of the time that you would take to take the little video or get the right photo. Like, what if we just took all that time and just put it back into being in the moment?
Sarah Steckler
Yes. Such a core part of mindfulness. And I was actually at the beach the other day with my mom, and we saw this, like, sea lion. He was like, huge, like, his belly came up on the surface, and I was like, he was so close, it was crazy. And I'm going, I'm whipping out my phone and going, I have to get a picture of this. Oh, my gosh. And then I'm waiting for him to surface, and I'm holding my phone. And then I go, what am I doing?
Sarah Steckler
First of all, I'm probably not going to get a picture that's worth putting anywhere. And second of all, I'm totally taking myself out of this moment. And so I put my phone away, and my mom kind of laughed at me, like, obviously. But we just really enjoyed it. And he came up a couple more times, and it was just really amazing to look at him and not look at him through a lens of a camera. How many times are we in a situation where I think it's like the story of I wish I knew the guy he always had wanted to meet the Queen in England, and he finally got an opportunity to go see her.
Sarah Steckler
And the entire time, he was so busy taking photos of it that he actually didn't really remember, like, actually looking at her, like, through his eyes and that always stuck with me. And I think that can really apply to just being more mindful and intentional in our lives and just really holding space for the moment that we're in.
Jenna Teague
Yeah. And before we all had a phone in our hands at all times, we took pictures with our eyes and they became our memories. So that used to be enough.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah. I really needed this reminder today. I plan to go out on a walk later. And I'm like, I don't need to take a bunch of photos. So we've talked a lot about, just, like, different aspects of self love and the process of it. And I loved your story of how you kind of stepped into this space more and more. And I know there are people listening that are probably like, okay, self love is great. But sometimes it's hard when we're juggling a lot of things or we have work or going back to school or spouse or kids or even just like, I'm trying to get the laundry done.
Sarah Steckler
And so how do we make ourselves a priority when it feels like we're being pulled in so many directions?
Jenna Teague
Yeah, that is such a good question. Well, first of all, I don't know if this exactly answers that question, but sort of combining what you've just asked with the idea that maybe self care can be selfish, like the idea that we don't have time or that self care can be selfish. I just want to say that if you can't manage to do it for yourself, then do it for someone else. Like, if your own motivation or it feels too selfish isn't enough to get you started on self loving thoughts and behaviors, then it's okay to let somebody else be your motivation until you find your own motivation.
Sarah Steckler
I love that. That's something that I don't think most people would think about, but I can totally relate to that. And I like that because I think too. It's like sometimes we don't start things if we don't think we have the perfect intention.
Jenna Teague
Yes, right. I'm not an addiction expert, but a lot of times in addiction treatment, the ideal goal is like, oh, you're going to want to go to treatment and get clean for yourself, but sometimes you don't. You might be willing to do it for your family, and that's enough to get started. And then you'll get there. Once we start engaging in more self loving talk and thoughts and behaviors, and we see how it affects us or even how it affects the people that we love and that we're, quote, doing it for that becomes its own type of motivation.
Jenna Teague
And that helps build our own buy in for why it's worth doing this, even just for ourselves. So if your kids are your motivation, if you want to set an example for them about how to love yourself, how to take care of yourself, how to talk to yourself and treat yourself with compassion and kindness, then do it for that reason. If you want to do it because you want to set an example for your spouse because you feel like they could use more selflove in their lives.
Jenna Teague
Do it for that. If you're a teacher and you want to do it for your classroom and your kids, there whatever motivation you can use to get started on this path is a good thing. And the second thing I would say is for those of us that are struggling, which I think is most of us are struggling with tons of responsibilities being pulled in a lot of different directions. Just take it back to the very basics, like how we were talking about a couple of minutes ago.
Jenna Teague
It doesn't have to be some huge grandiose act of self love. It can be things like doing your laundry first in the pile of laundry because you need a certain outfit to go to a meeting or party or whatever. Like that's an act of self love or asking for help with something so that you can devote more time to yourself. It can be really small but powerful things you should see.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah, I'm like nodding my head like crazy, because asking for help is the biggest thing I struggle with. And I've been working on it this year, and it's such a huge act of self love because it's realizing that it's okay when we can't do everything ourselves, and it plays into that perfectionist mindset which so many people struggle with. And I think I have really just tried to embrace and I'm still working on it that, you know, that asking for help is not weak. It's not selfish. And honestly, too.
Sarah Steckler
Sometimes it's really a gift to another person. I know, too. Like when I have a close friend or family member asked me for help, and it's something that I can do, and I know it's going to serve them. I'm like, oh, my gosh, of course. How wonderful that you're open to receiving that from me.
Jenna Teague
Yes. And it's also a gift in that it tells the people that we're asking for help or the people who are witnessing us ask for help that we're human, and we're also people who need help, which gives the people around us permission to feel okay when they need to ask for help.
Sarah Steckler
Yeah, I love that. So I have one last question for you, and it's going to put you on the spot a little bit. But if there was maybe just one piece of advice or one thing or something that you could tell someone that feels so overwhelmed with life and really wants to get started on self love, what's something that you would share with them?
Jenna Teague
Well, I'll share what I would want to share. I don't know if that person would believe it yet, but what I would say is because I don't know if I would have believed it when I was that person and when I still am that person, sometimes I would say, you are inherently worthy. There is nothing that you have to do or be or say or change to earn your worthiness. It is your birthright because you exist. You're worthy of love. And that's the bottom line.
Sarah Steckler
Oh, that gave me chills. Like, I love it. That's so powerful. We're going to have to write that out. That needs to be an Instagram post. I love it so much. And I just want to thank you, Dennis, so much for being here and for sharing your story and for all the little Nuggets of wisdom along the way. And I love to how you really preface a lot of what you said with that. It's unique to everybody and everybody's journey is different, and self love isn't one specific thing.
Sarah Steckler
It's a combination of our thoughts and the actions we take and giving ourselves permission to start where we are on our journey and just thank you so much. Thank you for the work you do. And before I let you go, Canva you just let people know more about how they can find you and where you are?
Jenna Teague
Yeah. Thank you so much. Sarah, this has been, in my opinion, a beautiful conversation. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I love how present I feel like we've both been in the moment, which is exactly your whole ethos being mindful. So I just want to share that it's just been a joy for me to be here with you and where I am mostly in the world online is on Instagram surprise Surprise, which I'm at Jenna Tig, just my first and last name. And then I'm also on my website.
Jenna Teague
I do some blogging and offer some services there, working with people and that's genitale. Com on Pinterest a little bit. But that's mostly where you can find me.
Sarah Steckler
Yes. And I highly recommend checking out her Instagram and her website. Both are amazing. And if you enjoyed listening to this podcast with Jenna, you're going to love everything she has to share on her Instagram feed. It's just so lovely. I love it so much. I wish I could favorite it. I don't know if they're going to come out with, like, a feature for that, but it's kind of like how in my space you have your top eight or whatever.
Jenna Teague
Yeah.
Sarah Steckler
I like have people in mind definitely love that. But no, thank you so much for being here and everyone listening to. You can find all the show notes. I'll make sure to link everything that Jenna mentioned on the show notes there. And that's Mindful Productivity Podcast podcast. Thank you guys so much for listening, and we will see you next week.