Hi, hello. Welcome to Mary's Cup of Tea, the self-love podcast for women. Though all self-lovers are welcome here. I'm Mary. I write and speak about self-love and I'm best known for my book, The Gift of Self-love, and I also host retreats for women. And this is the podcast that will inspire you to love yourself. Real quick, before we dive in, I want to make

sure you know about my book, The Gift of Self-Love. It's a workbook to help you build confidence,

recognize your worth, and learn to love who you are. It's available anywhere books are sold.

Thousands of people have it, love it, and have told me that it has greatly benefited their self-love

journey, and I hope it'll do the same for you. And now let's get into the podcast.

When I was 17, my family threw a giant birthday party for my grandpa's 70th. We did it Slavic style, which means

renting out a ballroom, hiring a band, there was like a hundred people, and we had these

big round tables overflowing with homemade Russian food. It was probably one of the biggest

parties that my family has thrown, aside from maybe my

aunt's wedding. It was just like a big deal. You know, Slavs take the round number celebrations very

seriously. And my grandpa turning 70 warranted this kind of event. So we flew out from Arizona to California where my family lived at the

time and I knew, my 17 year old self knew, that this party would be full of food that I love,

that I can't eat because I'm on a diet because I'm trying to lose weight. So what did I do? I proactively spent the days

leading up to the party, cooking all of my food, prepping them into plastic Tupperware containers,

freezing my meals, freezing them so I could take them on the plane, get to my grandma's house,

put them in the fridge,

and then I proceeded to eat my tilapia and broccoli from a Tupperware at my grandpa's 70th birthday party.

I sat there, sad, yet having this air of moral righteousness about me, trying to tell

myself that I'm, you know, dedicated and disciplined and I'm on a diet and I'm doing the right

thing and look at all these people gorgeing while I am good. And I remember my grandma walking over to me at the time

I got in a fight with her. I was annoyed with her. But now I look back and I remember how hurt she was

when she came over and was like, what? You're not going to eat anything? Like, you know, we ordered all

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