You know, when you hang up the phone with a friend and then realize you have so much more to say on the topic that you already spent an hour unpacking, so then you send them a follow-up voice note with your additional thoughts.

Well, that's exactly how I felt last week after recording the episode about how self-help, specifically the personal development industry, isn't always

conducive to self-love. But the word I realized I used a couple times in that episode was inadequate.

You know, this feeling of inadequacy. And my thesis in there was that a lot of times constantly

trying to fix yourself, improve

yourself, be better, do more, you know, achieve. It ultimately leaves you feeling empty and like

you are never enough. 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.

And that feeling of inadequacy, I am definitely no stranger to. In fact, it's come up a couple of times

over the past, even week or so. I fully convinced myself that I was

pregnant last week and was super excited to take a test, but then also was trying not to get my hopes up.

And then it was like negative, like super negative. It was just one line, like not even a faint line.

Rude. Rood.

...