Get Full of Yourself Without Guilt!

SELF / ISH

Get Full of Yourself Without Guilt!

By Kevin E. Taylor

As a pastor, a producer, and an author, Kevin E. Taylor’s life is full and one of service and the ongoing acquisition of wisdom. In the beginning of this book, he gives us a quote by the late Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Eva Marcille Sterling says, “Self-care—as you fear it, because it causes guilt—is what allows you to be greater for those you serve and it lies in your self-care, be it parent or preacher, businessman or teacher.”

How many of us are the person other people need us to be, the one they depend on to get things done, or to do things they can do for themselves, to the point where we expend all our energy on others with none left for ourselves? When it comes to care, how many of us put ourselves last on the list, if we put ourselves on the list at all? How many of us are accused of being selfish (not to be confused with SELF / ISH) when we do take time out for self-care and it’s not in line with what someone else needs us to be?

With a forward in each chapter by Eva Marcille Sterling, Taylor takes a deep dive into the aspects of self, both personal and professionally: self-image, self-worth, self-destruction, self-sabotage, self-awareness, self-discovery, and self-sufficiency. At the end of the day, to be the best version of ourselves, we must take the time for self-care, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Taylor encourages us the readers to ask ourselves not only the tough questions, but also the questions we haven’t thought to ask.

I appreciate what Taylor shares about self-care in terms of what we need at a given time, and what it means to be emotionally and intellectually independent. That takes work and some digging into those spoken and unspoken messages from our past that we relegate to the attic of our minds, but it is necessary to clean out the ISH (stuff) cluttering it up. I love the four affirmations at the end:

               You are smart.

               You are kind.

               You are beautiful.

               You are enough.

And let me add this one from one of his chapters: “You already have your own back.”

SELF / ISH is available through TM3: TaylorMadeMultiMedia and his website, www.kevinetaylor.com .

Thank you, Kevin and Eva, for your unique and inspiring perspective. Indeed, “what has your attention shows your intention.”