It’s the 3 Self-C’s triad. Self-Compassion, Self-Care, and Self- Confidence…and I want to take a deep dive into all three of them. So I’m kicking off a 4 part blog series – The 3 Self-C’s – finding yourself by experiencing compassion, care, and confidence on the deepest levels.
In this blog, I wanted to briefly cover self-compassion, self-care, and self-confidence and how they work beautifully together. In the following blog posts, we are going to dive deeper into each one. But for now, let’s chat about what they mean and why they are so important.
How do you define self-compassion?
Dr. Kristin Neff describes self-compassion at self-compassion.org perfectly: With self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and care we’d give to a good friend. You can see her eloquent definition of self-compassion here.
Why is Self-compassion so important?
I mean, would you stay in a relationship or friendship where you weren’t treated with kindness, grace, and compassion? It’s important to be aware of self-compassion because we wouldn’t want to allow that toxicity in our lives from other people…so let’s not allow it from ourselves either.
How do you define self-care?
Self-care is the act of taking care of oneself physically, emotionally, and spiritually in order to allow for physical health, mental health, and spiritual health.
Why is Self-Care so Important?
I love to think of self-care as filling up our own cup so that we have the means to pour it out onto others. If we are not caring for ourselves, we end up running on empty…and how can we care for others when we are depleted.
How do you define self-confidence?
The definition of self-confidence is a feeling of trust in your own abilities, qualities, and judgment. Self-confidence is having a positive view of yourself and trusting that you can succeed. It’s not being cocky or arrogant. It’s simple believing in yourself.
Why is Self-confidence so important?
Self-confidence frees you from experiencing self-doubt and negative thoughts about yourself. It removes the “I can’t” attitude and replaces it with “I am capable.” Self-confidence pushes you out of your comfort zone without experiencing anxious feelings. It allows you to feel the fear and face it anyways.
How do the 3 Self-C’s work together?
I recently read an article from the New York Post that argued that Self-Compassion was more powerful than Self-Confidence. I wasn’t sure I agreed. I believe that the 3 Self-C’s are intricately intertwined in the most beautiful way.
I believe that the 3 Self-C’s build up one on top of the next. When we are showing ourselves compassion, we are moved to take care of ourselves. When we show compassion and take care of ourselves, we begin to value ourselves…and confidence follows.
I would also argue that the 3 work synergistically. Self-Confidence doesn’t exist with grace if we aren’t considering our flaws and allowing them to be with self-compassion. Self-care doesn’t exist in a way that is effective if we aren’t self-confidence and self-compassionate…because why would we take care of ourselves if we didn’t recognize our value?
So like the New York Post article claims, I don’t believe that one is better than the other. They should co-exist. And when practicing all three, we are able to function optimally. We begin to pour out love, care, compassion, and encouragement onto those around us. We are able to uplift, build up, and change the world.
Stay tuned for the next article where we’ll look more closely at Self-Compassion. And to join an amazing community of women in self-discovery, head on over to the Glam Cave VIP Facebook Group so we can have more conversation around these topics!
