When you allow yourself to identify and articulate your needs with other people and then negotiate and listen through them, like, that is a deeply democratic act, these are muscles we deeply need both absolutely within our kind of founding union, but also within our families.

Like, this is practice.

And you can kind of throw the baby out with a proverbial

bathwater and just say, I'm not going to gather. But so often, like, the ways we gather is kind of

how we live. It's our opportunity to shape who we are. It's like these tiny little declarations

that allow people to meaningfully connect without all having to be the same.

Welcome to Mary's Cup of Tea, the Self-Love Podcast for Women.

I'm your host, Mary Jolkowski, an author, speaker, and all-around self-love advocate.

And this is the podcast that will inspire you to love yourself.

Hello, self-lover.

Before we dive into today's podcast episode, I want to make sure you know about my two books

on self-love.

If you're struggling with body image or self-acceptance, then I highly recommend you

check out my first book, The Gift of Self-Love.

It's a comprehensive workbook to help you build confidence,

recognize your worth, and learn to love who you are. Thousands of people have this book,

and the five-star reviews are so amazing. They give me so much life, so I hope that this is

something that can help you too. You can get it wherever books are sold by searching for

the gift of self-love or go to my website

Maryscup of tea.com slash book. After releasing the gift of self-love and reading all your positive

feedback, I realized that we really needed something to keep us going every single day. So not a deep-dive

workbook, but maybe like a micro dose of self-love in your daily life,

...