Emotional Nutrition

Emotional Nutrition

You ever feel like your life has become one long to do list that magically replenishes itself, unlike the secret stash of Almond Joys you were convinced no one else knew about? 🍫 Or like you are constantly living in survival mode, just getting past one hurdle to have another take its place? 🏃‍♀️💨If so, you are not alone. I like to call this fun phase of life “adulting”… but is it? Is this actually what being an adult is supposed to feel like, or is that simply what we have been taught? What if there is more to life than feeling like a worn out shoe? 👟😩

Let’s talk about Emotional Nutrition. 🌱💛

Not the kind with calories or carbs. The kind that feeds your peace, your capacity, and your ability to not snap at someone because they breathed too loudly next to you. 😮‍💨 Emotional nutrition is the care and input that helps you feel grounded instead of depleted. Calm instead of overloaded. Present instead of running on fumes. ☕💆‍♀️✨

We talk a lot about taking care of ourselves. Sleep. Water. Vegetables. Sure. Important. 🥦😴💧

But emotional nutrition asks a different set of questions:

What actually fills you? 💗
What empties you? 🥀
And are you even checking anymore? 🤔

Or are you floating through life like a teenager forced to attend grandma’s birthday when the biggest party of the year is happening across town? 🎂😒🎉

Most of us are running around on emotional crumbs. 🍞
We settle for the leftovers of our own time, energy, and attention. We tell ourselves we will rest later. We will say no next time. We will choose ourselves once life slows down.

But life never really slows down. It simply rearranges the chaos. 🔄🧠

So emotional nutrition is about noticing what feeds you and what drains you.
Because not everything that looks like “self care” actually nourishes you. 💅✨

A nourishing moment feels like:
• Your nervous system unclenching 😮‍💨
• Your shoulders finally dropping from your ears 💆‍♀️
• One long, full breath 🌬️
• Actually enjoying yourself in real time 😌
• Laughing with your full chest 😂💖
• Dancing in the rain, not caring who sees you 🌧️💃🫶

A draining moment feels like:
• Tight chest 🫀
• Replaying conversations long after they end 🔁
• Being physically present but mentally checked out 🧠💭
• Saying yes while your insides scream no 😐
• Choosing the cute shoes over comfort and regretting your entire existence later 😬👠

We ignore these signals constantly. We swallow guilt and call it kindness. We show up because “it is easier” than dealing with disappointment. 😔

Except the person we end up disappointing most is ourselves. 💔
Why does our own name always end up last on our list? 📝

Emotional nutrition is practicing the art of choosing yourself in small, real ways. It does not have to be dramatic or radical. 🌿

It can look like:
• Ten quiet minutes in your car before going inside 🚗😌
• Leaving a group chat on mute 📵
• Not explaining yourself when you say no 🙅‍♀️
• Choosing the slower morning even if it means one less task gets done ☀️🧣
• Letting yourself enjoy something simply because you enjoy it 🦋💕

If it feeds your peace, it counts. ✨
If it drains your energy, it deserves a second thought. 🧃

There is honesty in emotional nutrition. A willingness to ask yourself what you need without apologizing for the answer. 💬❤️
There is no rule that your nourishment has to be impressive or productive. It just has to work. 🌱🌼

Maybe emotional nutrition today looks like sitting with your coffee before speaking to anyone. ☕😇
Maybe it looks like letting yourself cry without forcing a pep talk afterward. 😢🤍
Maybe it looks like laughing at something ridiculous simply because joy does not need to be earned. 🤣💫
Maybe it means wearing the comfortable pants to Thanksgiving because you want to eat well and breathe at the same time. 🦃😌🫶

Whatever it looks like, it belongs to you. 🤍

So before the week gets away from you, take a quiet moment and check in with yourself. 🌙

What is one thing that genuinely feeds you right now?
Time with someone who feels safe. Music. Silence. Fresh air. Your favorite mug. ☁️🎧💗

And what is one thing that is draining you?
A conversation you keep repeating. A responsibility taken out of guilt. A schedule that leaves no breathing room. ⏳😣

You do not need to change everything. You do not need to make announcements or declarations. 🤝
Just lean into what nourishes you a little more this week. 🌿
And gently step back from what drains you. 🍂

Small shifts count.
They add up.
They change things. 🌸

You deserve to feel full in the ways that matter most. ☕🦋🤍

So give yourself permission to watch old reruns of Punky Brewster or Adventures in Babysitting, while putting on your old acid wash jeans (if they still fit, great, if not, those jeans were a crime against humanity anyway) and swipe on your Lip Smackers chapstick like it is 1994. 💄📺✨👖

No guilt.
No explanation.
Just you finding pieces of yourself again. ✨

You’ve earned it. 🤍